


Can't We Just Pretend?

by Wha0897



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Childhood Friends, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2016-01-20
Packaged: 2018-05-05 23:14:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5393855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wha0897/pseuds/Wha0897
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"So I kinda freaked out about my family bothering me about my love life and I may have told them that we're dating and please don't hate me"</p><p>Pretend relationship/Fake relationship literally no one asked for</p><p>Also really bad at summaries, but you should read it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Oh Shit-Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> I literally have no idea what I'm doing… this is what I get for procrastinating my homework. Tell me what you guys think of it! Should I continue?

So family reunions are literally the worst. Literally.

For 60 years the Hollis family has been getting together at 307 Silas Drive for "Hollis Family Reunion!", an event to gather up the numerous members of the Hollis family from all over the world. I've had the pleasure of attending this affair for 25 years now, hosted every year on my birthday. Not that I mind that I have to share the day of my birth with the gathering of 40 members of my family, but getting my cheeks pinched every year by the elders of the Hollis clan has started to become more "you're so beautiful, why haven't you settled down yet?" and less "happy birthday". Seriously. I think these people are starting to have an obsession with my love life-or lack thereof. Which is why I have deliberately chosen to sit against the huge Oak tree in the backyard to avoid all the questions.

"Cousin Laura!"  _Crap. So much for being alone._

"Henry! How are you little buddy?" The boy launched himself into my arms to give me a tight hug before settling into my lap. 

"Happy birthday!"

"Thanks kid" I ruffled his blonde hair quickly before bring my hand down to hold him into my lap.

"I've been okay. Mommy and Daddy have been fighting a lot lately though. They're not happy together are they?"  _This kid sure is observant for a four year old._ This wasn't hard to see. His parents-my dad's little sister and her husband-weren't the best match for each other and I guess it was starting to come apart. Poor kid, he doesn't need to be in the cross hairs of verbal warfare. 

"HENRY!" Both parents had yelled his name mid-argument from their spot on the porch away from everyone else. At least they had the decency to argue out of ear shot from the rest of the family.

"Come on Bear, they wanted me to bring you inside so that we could do cake!" He calls me Bear from time to time because one time I scared him while wearing a furry hat and he thought I was a wild animal. Also because I am the best at hugs. He got up from his spot on my lap to pull at my hands until I stood up with him to follow him inside the house. One of the traditions on this godforsaken day was to have a big cake for everyone. At least they didn't sing happy birthday to me…I'd probably die of embarrassment and/or run away from their judgmental glares. For them being single at 25 means I'm never going to find someone to love me. 

As we rounded the corner and into the back door of the house, I picked Henry up to put him on my shoulders so he could get a good look at the cake. Just because I was short and couldn't see it doesn't mean that Henry shouldn't be able to. The last couple of years they had been really beautiful thanks to Perry. After meeting at university and becoming really good friends, I convinced Perry to bake the cakes for our reunions. With the help of the ovens and supplies at her parents catering business Perry has been able to produce some of the best looking, best tasting cakes the Hollis family has ever had. 

* * *

 

After the usual speech my grandfather gives every year, the cake was cut and passed out. I put Henry down so that he could go play with his toys and enjoy his cake, then went to find myself a small uninhabited corner of the kitchen. As big as this house was, and it was BIG, no one was allowed to venture outside of the kitchen/living room area. Stupid rules. I was able to successfully make it through a piece of cake without any interruptions but just barely. With the last forkful I shoved in my face, I was ambushed by my grandmas, great aunts, and other elderly women who have been at the reunions for years but I haven't been able to identify them as actual members of the family. 

"Laura dear, how are you?" I knew exactly where this conversation was going. They always started normal like this before they were on full blown attack mode.

"I'm good Linda, how are you?"

"I'm good thanks for asking." She smiled. _Shit_. "You know, I noticed you came alone again this year. Is everything alright ok in the love department?" She crooked her head to the side.

"Everything's great, thanks for asking." There may have been a bite to those words, but if they were going to corner me about this, I was going to put up somewhat of a fight.

"Still single after all of these years, what a shame. Maybe you should show a little bit more skin rather than those flannels you keep wearing." She tossed the words right back at me, Linda was always a fighter, but I wasn't going to let her get to me this year.

"I'm gay Aunt Linda. Girls like it when I wear this." I grabbed a hold of my collar to reiterate my point. I was hot and I got plenty of ass, but they didn't need to know the details of my one-night stands. Especially not with my dad listening in from the other room. 

"We know dear, and we still love you just as much, but we're a little worried. You can't go forever without someone. I mean look at your great-grandparents." She gestured over to the couch where they were sitting, still holding hands after 70 years of marriage. "Don't you you want that?"

I did, I really wanted that, but I couldn't keep a girl for more than two dates. For some reason Laura Hollis wasn't enough for people. My last relationship ended with the girl going back to her ex-boyfriend after we had been together for 2 years. 2 years and apparently I was just a phase. So I gave up on relationships and become just a good fuck. 

"You know there's a nice girl that bring me and Robert our groceries every week, I'll get her number for you!"

"Oh we have a girl that cuts our grass, I'll get her number!"

"No no no, there's a sweet girl at the grocery store that's very pretty, you should come with me one day to meet her!"

All six of them started arguing over who was going to get me a number. As awesome as it was that I suddenly had six wing-women, I really needed them to just stop. I didn't want anyone's number.

"STOP!" All of them turned to face me with wide-eyes at my outburst, and I got a couple of looks from some of my other family members. I gave them a small smile and returned my gaze back towards the women in front of me. "I appreciate the help, I really do, but I don't need anyone's number." I ran my hand through my hair and sighed a little.

There was a moment of silence before one of them started to talk again. "You have a girl, don't you?" My grandma Violet suddenly made her way to the front of the pack, and looked at me as though she was trying to read my soul. For little people the Hollis' sure knew how to be scary.

"No grandma, there's no-"

"Yep! There is a girl!" My dad came rushing into the room with a smile on his face and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I was definitely shocked because a) I don't have a girlfriend and b) my dad just lied to his mother's face. 

"What?! There's a girl and you didn't tell us?" She started to lightly tap my arm-more of hit but she's old and has little strength left in her.

I gave him a  _what the fuck?_  look to which he returned a  _trust me_ back. Oh what the hell I'll go for it, how bad can telling one little lie be?

"Uh yeah, there is a girl."

"And you didn't want to mention her because?" Linda and her high-pitched voice was back to asking questions again.

"Because she knew that you guys would force her to bring her girlfriend and then corner the two of them about marriage and babies." Thanks be to whatever guardian angel was helping her get through this situation. And my dad. He's pretty rad too.

"Oh please Frankie,"-my grandma was the only person allowed to call him that. He was Frank to everyone else-"we just want to look out for our sweet girl." She was back to pinching one of my checks again like she did when I first walked in.

"Ma, she's happy and in love, can my baby girl be left alone for once? I think she's heard enough from the Spanish Inquisition." He gave my grandmother a look, the same one he gave me when I was little and did something I knew was wrong.

"Fine, my son. But I want to see a picture of this girl before we let you go. I want to see the woman that has stolen my granddaughter's heart." She smiled at me sweetly and a little apologetically-that was new. 

I panicked once her words hit me because there was no girl, no pictures of a girl, and my dad definitely couldn't sweep in to save me this time. "Umm I-" I started as I slid out my phone from my back pocket. All of the sudden my phone was stolen from my hands and all the women gather closer to my grandma.

"Is this her? She's beautiful sweetheart!" My dad and I locked eyes and gave each other a confused look as to the woman that my grandmother was referencing. She turned the phone around quickly to show me what she had been looking at. It was a picture of me and my best friend, Carmilla. My dad and I gave each other another look. I couldn't really make sense of the one he was giving me but I decided to just let it go.

"Sure, yeah." She turned the phone around again and I heard a collective "awe" from the group.

"Laura you guys are so cute together!" "Oh my goodness she's beautiful." "How'd you get this one sweetheart?" "Laura her jawline is amazing!" That last one was very true-Carm did have an incredible jawline.

"You know what, I want to meet her. One month from now we're having dinner together, and I'm not going to take no for an answer! Love you dear!" As quickly as the ambush started it ended, leaving both me and my dad in a state of confusion and shock. 

"So that was different." I gave my dad a  _no shit_ look.

"Hey don't give me that look I came in here to save you." He shot me back a look of accomplishment.

"No Dad, you gave them a reason to bother me about my very not real not girlfriend Carmilla." She was solo not going to be happy about this. That is if she even agrees to help me out.

He just shrugged. "Can't win them all bud." With that he started to go around and say good bye to the rest of my relatives. 

I was still a little dumbfounded about the whole thing. My grandma wants me to come back here in a month to have dinner with her, my grandfather, my dad, my aunts, and my very not girlfriend Carmilla. _Shit._ _Shit shit shit._  I smacked my hand to my head and began my rounds of goodbyes.

When I got to my grandmother she grabbed my face in her hands. "Now my sweet girl, I want to meet this beautiful girlfriend of yours. I know we come off a little intense, but we want you to be happy." I can't be mad at that, they loved me after all, and she seems happy about this so I can pretend a little can't I?

"I know grandma. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Carmilla earlier, I guess I didn't want to jinx it or something." I looked down at the floor because it was easier to lie to the floor than it was to look your grandma in the eye and lie to her.

"Oh sweetheart don't worry about that. Carmilla, huh? That's a wonderful name. You two look very happy you know. I can see the love." She gave me a kiss on the cheek before going back to play with Henry some more. 

I looked down at the photo on my lock screen. Carmilla and I look happy alright, but we're just friends and  _very_ drunk in that picture. I was giving her a kiss on the cheek and she was smiling, but that was only because Carm had helped us to win a game of beer pong at Perry's birthday party a couple of months ago. 

I made my way into my dad's truck, and he started down the road to drop me back at the apartment that Carmilla and I shared together.

After a few Taylor Swift songs he broke the silence. "So how are you gonna tell her?" I rolled my eyes.  _Way to be blunt, Dad._

"I have no idea. I already do her laundry and pick up after her so I can't really bribe her." That was true. Carmilla was bit of a walking tornado and I was a bit of a clean freak.

"She's going to say yes, you know. You don't have to look so worried." I was worried but not because I was scared that she wasn't going to say yes, I was worried about what Carmilla would make me do. We've been friends since we were little kids but Carmilla was a bit mysterious and unpredictable even to me and I was suppose to know everything about her. 

* * *

 

After another 20 minutes of driving, I was finally dropped off at my apartment with a promise of a call later. As I walked up the stairs and into my second floor apartment, I was greeted with the sounds of giggles and moans.  _Great. She has a girl over._

I slammed the door behind me and and practically ran into my room across the hall, making sure to make as much noise as possible. If she knows I'm home she'll kick the girl out. As much as Carm can be messy and dirty, she was pretty considerate about separating me from her women, and I made sure to keep mine from her. 

Carmilla is known for being a Grade-A Ladykiller, bringing home literally any woman that she wanted. And she could too because she oozed sex and looked like it too. Even I couldn't deny that Carmilla was attractive, she has been since puberty hit her like a train. Her jawline was carved from the gods, her muscles rippled beneath her clothes: toned and tight, beautiful pale skin, and literally wore leather like a boss. Her ass in those leather pants she has commanded a room. 

After about 5 minutes of pacing back and forth in my room I finally heard the front door close again, softly this time, and there was a knock on my door. Carmilla made her way into my room and sat on my bed while leaning her back against the headboard. 

"Cupcake I could smell you thinking from the other side of the house, what's up?" She was sincere. Her words were caring. She always knew when something was bothering me. I slowly made my way to my bed to sit next to her, turning my whole body so that I could face her as I told her. I just had to tell her flat out that I needed her to pretend to be my girlfriend. That's not hard right?

I started to open my mouth to spill my secret but I caught her gaze and froze. I didn't need to bring her into my problems. I'll just tell my grandma that we broke up and we won't have to really crazy, really stupid thing.

"Was it the reunion? They ambushed you again, didn't they?" She had taken hold of my hand at this point, involuntarily rubbing her thumb across the back of my hand. Something she knew would calm me down. 

"Well, that's the thing actually," I looked into her eyes that were now looking at me full of concern.  _Oh fuck it._ "SoImayhaveliedandtoldthemthatyouweremygirlfriendandpleasedon'thateme" The words couldn't come out of my mouth fast enough, and I made sure to close my eyes as I did so. This whole situation wasn't exactly the most comfortable.

There was a few too many beats before the silence was cut. "You told them I was your girlfriend? So what did they think, am I a catch? I hope you had good things to say about me cutie." I opened my eyes and my jaw simulanteously, staring back at her. She let go of my hand and leaned back to showcase her classic smirk.

"Seriously? I tell you that they think we're in love and that's what you have to say?"

"I don't know if you've noticed Creampuff, but I'm quite the woman." She purred back at me, still giving me that smirk. I rolled my eyes and she chuckled.

"They thought you were quite the looker." She scoffed.

"Of course they did, look at me: 10/10 would bang"

"You'd bang yourself?"

"Already do cutie." She winked back.

"Ok gross, but moving on. There's another thing." It was her turn to roll her eyes.

"Of course there is, there's always a catch. Spit it out Cookie, I've got to wash Ashley off me." I scrunched my face at that because ew?

"They want us to go there in a month and have dinner. They want to 'meet the woman that has their girl's heart.'" I added a little dramatics to the end of that sentence because let's be real, who's ever gonna tie down Laura Hollis? Maybe a girl if she plays her cards right but in a non-sex way, no one.

She cocked her head to the side as if she was thinking about it. "Come on Carm, please? I'll make it worth you're while." All of my worries were gone after she started joking about the whole thing, as ridiculous as this was. This is not something that happens to normal people but then again, the Hollis family is filled with a bunch of weirdos. 

"Worth my while huh?" The smirk was back but her voice dropped down an octave and I started to blush. I hated when she did this, she could always make me so uncomfortable so quickly. 

"Um yeah! I can buy you that ice cream you like, or we can sit in that creepy graveyard you like so much!" I had pretty much jumped off the bed at this point to get away from stupid Carmilla and her stupid flirty comments.

Another chuckle. "Relax cutie, I'm in on one condition."  _Holy fuck she's in._

"Anything!"  _Dial it back Hollis, jesus._

"I get to be as pda-y as I want, I can say innuendos, and if they really make me mad, I get to do something that will make them uncomfortable."

"Carm you can flash my family." She looked at me and faked a hurt look.

"I'm not  _that_ terrible cupcake, they have to buy me dinner first, then we'll see where the night takes us." She had stood up from the bed at this point, letting the red silk robe she was wearing to fall back into place. 

"Fine, I guess I can agree to those terms." I sighed. At least she had agreed to help me out.

"That's my girl! Don't worry Laura, I won't do anything to try to ruin the relationship you have with them, I just want to make them squirm a little bit." She wrapped her arms around me and I melted into her touch. This day had been so long and tiring that I just wanted to be held. I took deep breaths as she stroked my hair, then pulled back to look at her. 

"Thanks Carm, for doing this. I just really can't take them asking anymore, and I didn't mean to drag you into this but they saw your picture on my phone and assumed that you were the girl I was talking about and-" Carmilla placed a hand over my mouth.

"Hollis, I'm going to need you to stop before you hurt yourself." She smiled and removed her hand. "Anything you need Laura, I'll do. You know that don't you." A hand was placed on my cheek and I leaned into it.

"I know Carm, but I still wanted to thank you." We looked at each other for a moment then broke the embrace. I was starting to notice the colors of her eyes and that's not a thing that best friends do. Right?

"You can thank me by cooking me dinner woman!" She quickly slapped my ass and ran out of my room towards the bathroom we shared. "I worked up an appetite!"

I groaned. She ruined the moment by being gross. There was a feeling in my chest at the thought of her with that girl all night, but I couldn't really put my finger on it.  _Whatever._ The sooner I cooked, the sooner I could go to sleep and forget about this day. I started my way towards the kitchen before I heard the sound of Carmilla coming out of the bathroom again.

"No Carm, I'm not going to kill whatever bug is in there." I didn't even look at her, but the last time she came out  of the bathroom she made me kill a spider the size of a book that was in the bath tub. It still haunts me.

"Turn around cupcake."

As I turned around I was met with a face full of cake. I jumped back and gasped as frosting slid off my face and onto the floor. Carmilla had also made her way to the floor, laughing loudly and holding her stomach.

"Ha-happy birthday" She barely got the words out of her mouth before I jumped on her and brought the cake to her face.

"Oh that's so funny Carm, how sweet of you to get me a cake. How does it taste?" At this point I wasn't even close to getting the cake into her mouth but instead on all the other parts of her face. After about a minute of wrestling with her I effectively pinned her to the ground with her hands over her head.

"You know sweetheart, usually it takes a lot of alcohol before I let a girl on top of me." I looked down at her: my legs were straddling her waist, my chest was close to her chest, our faces only inches apart. My heart started to beat a little faster.  _What the hell?_

I quickly removed myself from the situation before grabbing a paper towel to wipe the frosting off my face. Carmilla followed suit, wiping the remains of the cake from herself as well. She dragged the towel down her cheek and across her jaw, and my eyes followed her every move. I shook my head out of the trance she had me under.  _What the hell are you doing Hollis? Why are you ogling your roommate?_ I busied myself with cleaning the cake off the floor so I didn't have to watch her clean herself off.

"Well that was fun cutie, but I really do need to shower." I turned to face her. She took a step foreword and placed a hand on my face. "You've got a little…right there." She dragged her finger across my face then brought her fingers to her mouth and sucked off the frosting. "mmhm I made a great choice." I was too busy stuck in a trance at her actions to even notice that she had left from her position before me and went back to the bathroom. The only thing I could focus on was the new sensation happening between my legs at my roommate's action.

 

_What the hell Hollis?_


	2. Oh Shit-Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura has a lot of thoughts about things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for all the love! Come check me out on tumblr! Send me an ask! living-in-water.tumblr.com

_What are you doing? What is happening right now?_ I shook my head quickly and began working on dinner. Pasta. Carmilla's favorite. 

So Carmilla agreed to be my fake girlfriend…is that weird? Probably. Do I care? A little. She didn't have to agree to this crazy, messed up plan to get my relatives out of my hair for a couple of months and yet she did. I know she's not doing it for me, she probably is going to make me do something completely embarrassing like that time she make me run down the beach screaming "PENIS" when we were sixteen. In my defense I was extremely drunk.

After a few more memories about the humiliating things that Carm has made me do over the last couple of years I heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen.

"I could practically  _hear_ you thinking while I was in the shower, cupcake. What's on your mind?" She had sat down at the small table next to the window with her head resting in her hand and an unamused look on her face.

"I was just thinking about things."  _Well that wasn't a lie, I'm just choosing to leave out the part where I was thinking about her._ At this point I put two plates down at the table and she shot foreword to devour her food. For someone as toned and slim as Carmilla, she eats like a bodybuilder.

Only a few bites passed before she started talking again. "So what's the game plan for our relationship blondie?" Okay, she wants to have this conversation now. I was kinda hoping we could wait until the day before.

"Well, I don't really know. Basically we just have to convince them that we're in love so they can stop bothering me about my love life. I don't think I can handle another year of their attacks." I was twirling my pasta around my fork so that I didn't have to look her in the eyes. Even though I was comfortable with my best friend, this situation was kind of weird. Like having to dance at prom with your cousin at prom because you couldn't get a date weird. Not that that happened to me because I had Carm who left her date to dance with me. If that isn't true friendship, then I don't know what is.

"Convince them we're in love huh? Well that shouldn't be hard to do when I get to look at a beautiful girl all day long." I could feel the blush coming as she smirked behind her fork. She did this all the time-shameless flirting-and it always made me blush no matter how many times I told myself that she was just kidding. Carmilla had a way of making a girl feel special with words alone. 

"Carm I'm serious, they have to believe that it's real."

"Relax cutie, I'm a professional when it comes to pretending."  _That_ was true. Carmilla had minored in theatre back at university. "What was this picture of me they saw anyways? I mean I know I always look like a ten, but I wanna see which one little miss Hollis looks at when she looks at her phone." I rolled my eyes at the complete lack of subtly.

I handed my phone over and watched her face, wanting to gauge her reaction to the picture. If I remember anything from that night at Perry's party, it was that Carmilla was very drunk and very pleased with her win. She _was_ the reigning beer pong champion, even beating out Kirsch and Danny who dominated all the Zeta and Summer parties. Instead of her classic, sexy smirk, her face wore a soft smile as if she remembered that moment. I matched her smile involuntarily when she looked into my eyes again before diving back into my food. As nice as this moment was, I still wanted food.

"I can see why they didn't put up much of a fight after looking at this picture, you look quite happy cupcake." Her smirk was back again. Whatever soft, emotional part of Carmilla had shown itself in the last couple of seconds was gone as quickly as it came. I try to cherish those moments where she lets her guard down. It only ever happens with me but I suppose that's what happens when you're friends with someone for 15 years-this level of trust and love that can't happen with anyone else. As much as Carmilla will deny that she loves Laf, Perry, Kirsch, and Danny, and I know that she loves them, but I do take pride in the fact that she loves me the most. She doesn't look at them the same way she looks at me. I got a feeling in my stomach again, but I attributed it to the fact that I was still very much hungry and had yet to even put a dent in my plate. 

"Yeah well, we won that game and got Danny and Kirsch to bring us drinks for the rest of the night. Who wouldn't be happy?"  _Nice save  Hollis._

"It always makes me happy to beat Xena and her talking golden retriever."

Before I could reprimand Carmilla for Danny and Kirsch's nicknames the sound of a Taylor Swift song blared out of my phone. Carmilla immediately dropped the phone on the table and made a disgusted face. She hates any music from this century. I hastily grabbed the phone off the table to check out the name of the person calling me. 

"Hi Dad!" 

"Hi sweetheart! Calling to let you know I made it home. Did you tell Carmilla yet?"

I put the phone on speaker and set it down on the table between Carmilla and I. "Yeah I told her, she's in." I got a raised eyebrow in response from her.

"Wonderful! I told you she would help you out and that you had nothing to worry about."  _Great Dad, now she's gonna make a comment about that._

"I know better then to refuse free food." She said this with a mouthful of pasta, reiterating her point by action alone.

"Of course you did, kid. I just want to give you a heads up, my family is a little intense." She scoffed.

"I am more than capable to handle  _intense_. I am the daughter of one of Forbes' Most Powerful Women Ever." Carmilla's mother, Lilita Morgan, was named among the magazine's most powerful women to ever walk the Earth. She was right below Oprah. 

"Oh I know Milla, but this family is different. Very hands-on. Very much have to be in your business all the time. I know how much you hate that." I bit my lip. Carm hated people normally and even more so when they started to bother her.

"I'm willing to deal with all of that to help Laura out. I kind of owe her." She shrugged when I looked at her.  _What's she talking about? I think I would've held that over her head if she owed me._

"You girls have a good night. I'll be over sometime next week so we can go over who's who of the family. Love you both!"

"Bye Frank." "Bye Dad" We said into the phone simultaneously. 

I put the phone back into my pocket as Carmilla got up from the table to clean her plate in the kitchen. "Carm? Why did you tell my Dad that you owed me? Last time I checked I still owed you for that pizza you bought me and forced me to eat during my 48 hour research on the Mayor." I've been known to skip meals when I get too caught up with my job as a journalist. Usually Perry is the one to bring food over to force me to eat but since she and Laf were on their honeymoon that week, Carmilla was the one to step in and keep me alive.

"You do still owe me keeping you alive but it's really nothing Lois Lane; no other explanation is needed." By this time she had already picked up my plate and starting to wash it off in the sink as well.

"Were you really worried that I wasn't going to help you out with this?" She said it with an even tone but by what I could see from my seat at the table her eyebrows were pushed together questionably.

"Well I…I mean it wasn't you I guess I…ugh" I didn't know how to phrase this at all. "I guess I was worried that you were going to be a little freaked out if I asked you. Pretending to be dating your best friend is a little bit of an uncomfortable conversation and I know you don't really like family gatherings or else you would come with me to the reunions but I also know that you wanted to help but I didn't know how to ask you and I didn't mean to drag you into this but they just assumed you were my girl and I didn't know they were going to make us go to dinner with them or else I would've picked someone else and I'm sorry." I took a breath after my speech and look up to see Carmilla looking down at me with an indistinguishable look on her face. "What?"

She shook her head. "I thought you were about to die by rambling cutie. You really need to learn how to slow your mouth down a little. I could teach you." She smirked.

I flipped her off as I went to sit on the couch, grabbing my laptop from the coffee table as I passed by. "Shut up Carm."

After another minute she joined me on the couch and leaned against my shoulder. "You know I would do anything you asked, Laur. Especially when it comes to your family. I know how stressed out you are when it comes to them." There was a softness to her voice and I felt warm. This was my favorite part of Carmilla. That she could make me feel like this when I got stressed out. 

I turned my head towards her and was eye-level with her. "Thanks Carm. I don't mean to get like this but after years of prodding into my life I thought I could handle it, and then Danny and Kirsch and Laf and Perry got married and now they've lasered their focus onto me. It feels like they have to keep reminding me that by the time the rest of the Hollis family were 25, they had all gotten married. And I want that, I do, but I want to find the right person." She nodded her head to my admission then her side-smile was back.

"You're telling me Shelley wasn't the one?" I groaned.

"Don't remind me." Shelley was an very brief fling in March of my junior year at university. Horrible judgement on my part. As hot as that girl was, she was equally as crazy. She tried to confine me in my dorm room while she went to class so that I couldn't "look or talk to other girls". I got the hell out of that relationship as quickly as I could. The sex was great but clingy is definitely not a good quality.

Carmilla giggled and I turned my attention back to my laptop. I was currently writing a story about one of the local businesses being robbed. Mom and Pop shop took a hit of $500. Robber still hasn't been caught.

"Always working Hollis, you really need to give yourself some time to relax." She was right, I was always working, but as long as I was working then people were getting their news. Even if this wasn't the hard-hitting reporting that I want to be doing. Unfortunately in picturesque Styria there was only so much news to report on.

I mumbled back a "mmhmm" as a stuffed a cookie into my mouth. It was the only way I could write: cookie in my mouth and fingers typing vigorously at my keyboard. I felt her get off the couch only to return a second later.

"Save your work and put the laptop down cupcake, that's enough writing for tonight. It is your birthday you know." She said it in a way I couldn't refuse, so I saved my work and placed my laptop down next to my package of cookies. When she sat down next to me again I turned my body to face hers. She sat down with a present in one hand and a package of cookies in the other.

"I thought Perry told you not to feed my cookie addiction?" I grasped the package from her hands and placed them on the table next to the other one. I was getting low anyways.

"She did, but maybe I'm trying to fatten you up so I can have you all to myself." My mind went blank and my stomach did that weird feeling thing again. I recovered as soon as I could think again.

"Oh please. We both know you like to do the exact opposite of whatever anyone tells you." She nodded with a pleased look on her face.

"You caught me cupcake." She thrust the present into my hands. "Happy birthday Laura. I know you said you didn't want anything but I couldn't resist. And you know me, always have to do the 'opposite of whatever anyone tells me.'" She mimicked my voice for the last part but it was entirely too obnoxious to actually match mine.

"Thanks Carm. This is really sweet of you." We smiled at each other for a moment too long before I broke the gaze and opened my present. Carmilla had a record of continuously getting me the best gifts ever. I always feel terrible whenever I have to give her a gift because I know my gift-giving skills are nowhere as good.

I gasped as I tore the paper away. It was a vintage, leather clad journal I had been looking at earlier this month when Carmilla and I had been shopping. It was entirely too expensive for me to purchase and if I wanted to buy Carmilla that leather vest she was eyeing that day then I needed to save as much as I could. I lunged forward to encase her in a world-famous Laura Hollis hug. "Thank you thank you thank you Carm! I love it!" I unwrapped my arms from her body to let her sit back up from my all too aggressive hug. She remembered how much I wanted this, I didn't think she was actually listening to me. I ran my fingers across the front of the book trying to decide what I was going to write in it. Research notes? A clichéd diary entry? My secret love for Carmilla?- _Woah what the fuck?_ I could feel my eyes go wide.

"Don't mention it cutie." Thankfully Carmilla had turned her attention to the newscast broadcasted on our TV so she didn't notice my body go stiff at my thoughts. 

_I was really going to need to talk to myself about whatever is going on right now. I love Carmilla but as a friend. She's my best friend and nothing else. A best friend that is going to pretend to be in love with me in front of my family in a month. A best friend that_ _definitely out of my league and could no way be believable as my girlfriend because oh dear holy stars she's attractive and I would be lying if I to myself if I said I never thought of her in that way._

I repressed my thoughts and placed the journal on the couch next to me. Just as I settled into my seat with a fluffy blanket protecting me from reaching out and snuggling up to Carmilla like I usually do, our cat, Moose, jumped into my lap. I sighed and petted his soft brown and black spotted fur as I let myself get consumed by my thoughts again. 

_Okay so I think Carmilla is attractive-so what? Friends can think they're attractive without it meaning anything. She looks perfect in the sunset when the light is just barely touching her features. Her voice may be the sexiest thing I've ever heard but that woman brings everyone to their knees so it doesn't count that I want to hear that voice every second of the day. And just because she remembered how much I love journals doesn't mean anything. Best friends remember everything about each other. I remember how much she loves the stars and leather. Gods does she love leather-and she should because she looks damn good in it. Those leather pants she has makes her ass look out of this world. And the way she looks when she's waking up, so peaceful and totally opposite of the confident, carefree attitude she usually wears, is something that I wouldn't mind waking up to everyday of my life._ I groaned inwardly.  _Oh shit. I'm starting to have feelings for my best friend, aren't I?_

 

 

 


	3. Making Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Carmilla and Laura start to plan their fake-relationship, Laura begins to make plans of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe the love and support that I've been getting from you guys! Thanks for reading! 
> 
> living-in-water.tumblr.com

**A Week From Laura's Birthday**

* * *

 

**_Dearest Me,_ **

**_My investigative nature has gotten the best of me over the last couple of days and I might've started to take tabs on myself. Ok, so there's no black and white pictures lining my walls or anything, but you get my point. Basically I'm trying to gauge my feelings. Are they real? Is this just because it's been SUCH a long time since I've had a girlfriend? Do I just want attention?-Maybe. Maybe to all of these._ **

**_As I was saying-writing?- I've started to pay attention to our daily routine. She makes me breakfast as I make her coffee. That's pretty normal for roommates right? It doesn't matter that I could literally kiss her every time she makes me chocolate chip pancakes-even Perry has said so and she runs a professional bakery! I also haven't noticed ever how adorable she is when she wakes up. She comes out of her room looking like she got struck by some Greek goddess. But I haven't noticed that at all. Nope. Not even once. I especially don't notice when she pushes her hair out of her face. Definitely don't follow her toned arms. For someone that can spend an entire day lounging on the couch she has quite the body-not that I've noticed._ **

**_That's all that I've been able to catch so far. I do have to work you know…..ok I work from my laptop but that's beside the point. I've been trying to lock myself away in my bedroom with Moose so I don't have to see her go to work. Even though Carm totally nails the "I'm punk and don't care what you think" look, she absolutely knows how to wear office appropriate clothing. One morning I caught a glimpse of her in skirt and a white button up that she matched with glasses. I'm ashamed to admit that I spent 10 extra minutes in a shower a penguin would be jealous of._ **

Sighing, I put down my pen and closed my journal. I haven't meant to be avoiding my best friend but I kind of need to figure out if these feelings are real because then we'd have a problem on our hands.  _God Hollis you really like to make things difficult for yourself don't you?_  

I looked back at the clock on my nightstand and opened my laptop to submit an article to my supervisor. I had finished several days early to escape a movie night with Carmilla. She looked sad for a minute before I panicked and told her it was for work. Nice save if I do say so myself. After submitting I decided that it was a good idea to feed myself and Moose lunch today. I picked him up off his spot on my yellow pillow and opened the door to walk into the kitchen. When my eyes snapped up from the sweet boy in my arms I froze. Standing in the middle of my kitchen was my father and my best friend.  _How did I not hear them come in? Was I really that lost in my thoughts?_

"Uh….hello?" Moose jumped from my arms to greet Carmilla.

"Hi Cupcake" "Hi sweetheart"

I took a few cautious steps closer to them still very confused as to why neither of them were at work. "Is your article going ok? I know you were worried. Here, I brought you some Thai food." She thrust a plate into my hands. I met her words with a raised eyebrow.

"Laura stop looking so confused, I told you I was coming by this week to go over the family for Carmilla." That was true, I just figured the visit would be on a weekend like a normal parent. Then again, Frank Hollis was anything but normal.

"Ok, that's totally cool and everything but it's 1:30 on a Thursday. What are you doing home?" I directed this at Carmilla without looking at her so I couldn't notice those slim-fitting black pants she was wearing or the green blouse that showcased her incredibly attractive collarbones.  _Is this girl even real?_

"Mother let me go early today, I guess she had to fly out to Europe to calm down some angry British dude with his panties all in a bunch." For someone with extensive business language she really didn't like to use it outside of the office. "I ran into Frank downstairs and brought him up with me about ten minutes ago but I didn't want to disturb you while you were working." That was sweet. Last time she did that I cock-blocked her as my revenge. You don't mess with a Hollis in work mode and when you do you have to face the consequences. 

"Great now that we're all caught up, let's get started." A family photo album was placed on the counter in front of us. I went to the fridge to grab beers for the three of us; if I know anything about my family, it's that you need a lot of alcohol to get through it all in one piece. Distributing the drinks, we all sat down on stools and prepared for the long discussion ahead of us.

"This is Laura's grandmother Violet-my mother. She's the one that invited us to dinner." He pointed to a picture of my grandmother holding baby me. God I had chubby cheeks. Thankfully puberty took those away. "Next is Aunt Linda," he shifted his hand to the right where she stood solo along a beach. "She's kind of the ring leader against my poor baby." I rolled my eyes and Carmilla chuckled. If Frank Hollis was good at anything it was embarrassing his daughter as much as possible.

"Daaaadddd."

"Laura I've told you a million times, as my only child I love you the most and you will always be my baby." I gave him a gross She's-The-Man-Viola-Hastings-food-in-my-mouth-smile back. He grimaced. 

"Anyways, Milla she's probably going to be the one asking the most questions so I'd make sure you guys have your story down. I'm pretty sure she's where Laura gets her love of investigation from." Carmilla simply nodded and continued to follow along with my dad. I on the other hand, stopped listening to the words coming out of his mouth and was laser-locked on the sunlight hitting Carmilla's face.

"Bear!" That snapped me back really quick.

"Told you she would answer." Carmilla had a pleased look on her stupid beautiful face.

"How do you keep doing that Karnstein?" Dad pulled a 5 out of his wallet. Carmilla took it and put it in her bra-not that I was looking of anything. I squinted at them. They made stupid bets like this all the time.

"Where'd you go Space Cadet?" 

"Funny." I went back to shoveling food back into my face. Couldn't tell them I was admiring Carmilla's face if my mouth was full. I got a weird look from my father but I looked away before I could get red. He didn't need to know anything if I didn't even know yet.

"Well girls, it's time for me to head back. I've got the night shift with a newbie. Can't be late to show the guy the ropes." He stood from his seat and I dove into a hug. I always hated that he was a cop even if he assures me that 'the bad guys have nothing on me muffin'. Wrapping us both up in a hug and kissing the tops of our heads, Frank Hollis was out the door. I flopped back down into my chair.

"Here cutie, your dad gave us a list of questions to prepare us for the hell show of a dinner in a couple weeks." She slid the paper in front of me when I pushed my plate away.

**1\. How long have you been dating?**

**2\. How did you meet?**

**3\. Are you planning on getting married?**

**4\. How do you feel about kids?**

"Jesus he's preparing us for the worst isn't he?" I looked up at Carmilla who was giving me an arched eyebrow in return.

"I think you've missed the best one Cupcake. Look at number 27." My eyes shot down the list to the question.

**27\. Have you two been intimate? If so, for how long?**

I smacked a hand against my face to hide my rising blush.  _Nice and subtle Dad. Nice and subtle._

"Well cutie, have we been intimate? Because I'm sure I can think of a lot of things but I want you to tell me just how _intimate_ we've been." Her voice was low and whispered into my ear. I felt my eyes widen and my jaw drop before I stuttered. 

"If I had known that this is what it took to stop you from talking I would've started doing this a long time ago." She removed herself from my side and was laughing her way back into her room. I however, was currently trying to collect myself from the floor at her shameless flirting. Ever since he agreed to be my fake girlfriend her flirting has practically made my heart stop.

* * *

 

"Now I know you want to avoid this conversation at all costs but we really should put together our plan for your family. I'd like to at least be somewhat disposed to our supposed relationship." She came back out of her room changed into ludicrously short shorts that highlighted her gorgeous skin and a cut-off shirt with the phases of the moon on it. She plopped down next to me on the couch where Moose and I were currently discussing his infatuation with the blanket. She scratched behind his ears and he purred before rolling his head back too far and falling off his seat. We both laughed at our ridiculous cat.

I took a deep breath when she looked me in the eyes again. I'm so used to seeing such a confident, dominant persona that seeing Carmilla with soft, content eyes was truly a sight to see. She was beautiful all the time but like this she could beat out any romantic scenery, any beauty pageant, anything breathtaking really. She was completely breathtaking without even trying. I felt a small smile crept its way to my lips and she returned it, then scrunched her nose up at me.

"Cupcake you're staring. I'd appreciate it but now it's beginning to get weird that you haven't said words in the last 10 minutes." She slouched a bit into the couch and Moose jumped up onto her stomach to sit down.

"Well where do you want to start? I've gone over the list a couple of times and my dad has pretty much thought of every question that could potentially come out of their mouths." I picked the list off the coffee table to look at it again.

"From number 1 I guess. How long have we been dating blondie?" She was running her hands through Moose's fur. "I'd say about a year to give us some time, but not enough that they question why you haven't brought me to meet the extended family yet."

I  gave her a slight nod. "That's probably a good time. So about a year. Ok, where did we meet?" I looked past the piece of paper.

"I saw you from across the room and I couldn't keep my eyes off of you. You were drawing me in with your beauty so I made my way over to you. I grabbed singles from my pocket and threw them at you. You were a stripper." She burst out laughing which made Moose give her a nasty look for disturbing his nap. I shook my head and laughed too. 

"Yeah that'll go over great with the family."

"Hey they'd be appreciative that I'm took their sweet Laura away from a world of dancing erotically." She responded when she caught her breath.

"How chivalrous of you."

"I am a gentlewoman." I rolled my eyes.

"Let's say we met at a coffee shop and spend the whole afternoon getting to know each other." It was her turn to roll her eyes. "What?"

"Please cupcake that's so predictable and terribly overused by Hollywood. How about we tell them we met at Perry's birthday party. That was a little over a year and a half ago so the it fits the timeline."

"Buzzkill." I said as I threw a pillow at her. Maybe I wanted an aspect of my life to be a little like the romantic comedies I make Carm watch with me every week.

We went through the next questions without too much argument from each other.

"Okay, who's place do we stay at usually?"  _That was a strange question since we live together._

"Mine. My bed is softer than yours." Carmilla said without hesitation.

"You think we'd be at yours?" I scoffed back. My bed was perfectly fine thank-you-very-much.

"Of course we would. Why is this a question anyways we live together." She picked her head off of my lap and turned to give me a face.

I hit her arm. "They don't know that genius! And we'd barely be able to move around in your room. You leave clothes all over the floor. I'm sure there are probably some covering your bed so I wouldn't be able to sleep anyways." I gave back in a matter of fact tone.

"I'll have you know my bed is clothes-free to allow for certain activities Miss Hollis." She wiggled her eyebrows at me. "And we both know I don't let girls sleep over." She said as she put her head back down on my thigh. Another fact about Carmilla was that she never let a girl sleep over here and she very rarely slept at the girl's place. I never really understood that about her but I guess she doesn't like her toys enough to  _actually_ sleep with them.

"But I'd make an exception for you I guess. Who wouldn't want to wake up to a pretty girl in her bed?" I could hear the smirk.

"That hasn't stopped you before," I challenged. "I've seen perfectly good tens walk out the door before."

"Yeah but none of them were you." There was no playful tone, no smirk, no flirting, just said as a fact.  _What did that mean? Does she think about me? Is she attracted to me?-Look into this Hollis._

"Um we'll just tell them that we're moving in together and that'll be that." I recovered quickly and crossed the question off the list. "Next question, have we been intimate?"  _Shit. Of course this question was next._ Mentally I hit myself in the face, physically I covered it with the paper.

I felt her head leave my lap before her hand pushed the paper out of my face and she leaned in close. "You tell me cutie." She  _purred_ and I'm pretty sure I whimpered because she chuckled. "I'm going to go with yes since we are moving in together and no girl can resist a Karnstein." Her fingers brushed up and down my arm but I was too busy trying to control my breathing to really feel anything. 

"Uhhh."  _Intellectual Laura. She's definitely going to know what the hell you meant by that._

Suddenly she distanced herself from my face and I could breathe again. "Relax cupcake, you look like someone kicked your puppy." She retreating back to her normal self but if she was going to flirt oh so shamelessly then I could get a point too. I put on my best seduction eyes and brought my lips up to her left ear.

"Sorry,  _cutie_ , I was just thinking of all the things you'd be doing to me." I said in my best Carmilla-esque voice and retreated back to my spot. Her eyes widened for a second before her head whipped back at me.

"Oh I have all kinds of thoughts about that."  _Dammit Hollis you definitely did NOT win that point._  My throat went dry and I coughed when she broke eye-contact.  _She's not making this easy._ I groaned inwardly after getting up to grab a glass of water. SOmething needed to cool me down after that conversation.

We made it successfully through the rest of the questions, but not before a couple of hours fidgeting on the couch and finishing the leftovers from lunch. It was well into the nighttime when we finally got the chance to focus on something other than our fake relationship.

* * *

 

"Hey Carm?" We were in the middle of re-watching an episode of Doctor Who that Carmilla claims she hates, but I know that she actually really enjoys. 

"What's up buttercup?" Her eyes looked like they were buried in an old first edition book but I knew they were trained on the screen on the opposite wall of the room.

"Who'd be the whipped one in the relationship?" It seemed a little out of place but it was something I was playing around with in my head.

"Hm I'm going to go with you cupcake." I shot her a look.

"Me? Seriously? You literally ditched that bleach blonde last month to come be with me when I was sick."

"You were sick! You're telling me you didn't want me to take care of you and make you my famous soup?" She turned her head toward me.

"Not if you were on a date! I wouldn't called Kirsch or Laf if I had known you were with a girl." I didn't find out about the girl until Danny relayed to me that she watched Carmilla jump up from the table and leave the girl dumbfounded to come home to me.

"Yeah well she wasn't intelligent at all. She confused Dante with Chaucer and I can't be with a girl that doesn't know the difference."  _That_ was a load of bullshit. I've watched Carmilla pick up the entire swim team and half of those girls could barely count all their fingers. It still intrigued me though, that she would leave a date for me. I'm nothing special yet she gave up a chance to get laid. It's probably because I'd do the same for her after being friends for years. And because I'm the only one who can handle Carmilla's sass and attitude when she's sick. She practically acts like she's dying even when she only has a head cold. As funny as it is to watch my broody roommate reduced to a sick helpless mess, she also gets annoying pretty fast. "Laura can you get me this, Laura I can't reach the spoon you have to feed me."

"Plus I know how much you like it when I rub your head." Whenever I was sick Carmilla would massage my temples and my body could go boneless at how nice it felt.

"That doesn't help you 'not-whipped' case."

"A Karnstein is never whipped." I gave her a look. "But the rules don't apply when they come to you, do they?"  _There it was again, what did she mean by that? Should I look into it? Of course I will but still, she doesn't mean anything by it-she can't. There's no way that she sees me as anything but a friend._

I turned myself back to the TV and the sounds of the Doctor filled the empty space as I began my plans of harmless experiments to play on my roommate. Maybe I should give Laf a call….


	4. Wet Dreamin'

_Slowly I slid my hands down her body and over those gorgeous breasts, dipping my head down to trace her stomach with my tongue. I could feel her squirming from the sensation and clamped my hands down on her hips to hold her in place while I continued my tortuous journey down to paradise._

_"Laura," she growled while running her hands through my hair. "Fuck baby that feels good."_

_I lifted my mouth from her body and kneeled between her legs to take in the sight before me. Her dark hair shielded a majority of the pillow from my sight while she gripped onto the white sheets of my bed. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was panting slightly, mouth agape and turned somewhat into a smile. "Laura if you don't start touching me again soon I will start and finish without you." Her eyes shot open and challenged me to disobey her._

_I let a retort die on my tongue and decided to shut her up using my mouth instead. Before ducking down to capture her lips with mine, I put my hair up into a high pony tail. " You always look so sexy like that." She said in between kisses._

_"You only like it because it means I'm gonna go down on you." I responded quickly, making my way down to do just that._

_"Well, that isn't the_ only _reason but it is a damn good one." I smiled as I kissed the inside of her thigh. This girl._

_I turned my head and breathed in her scent: sweet. I leaned forward to taste the girl in front of me and was greeted with something so delicious; something so purely beautiful and mouthwatering that I had no choice but to moan into her core. "Fuck Carm you taste so good."_

_"Oh I love it when you talk dirty to me." She teased back, but I cut off her smugness with a quick suck of her_ _clit. She moaned back._

_"Fuck Laur, I'm gonna- BEEP" I looked up and she opened her mouth again with a confused look on her face. "BEEP" I pulled back and sat back. "Cupcake get up!"_

My eyes opened the second my body connected the floor. I grabbed my beeping phone off the coffee table to shut off my alarm as Carmilla snuggled down deeper into the spot my body was no longer claiming on the couch. Apparently we decided to sleep there after an episode of Property Brothers. As much as she likes to deny it, Carmilla loves that show. It's one of the reasons why our apartment is so modern and stylish. Also because Carmilla makes a lot of money. Like way more than a 25 year old should, but that's what happens when you're really good at your job and you come from a family of money-not that she'd take it anyways. One of the things I love about her is that she has earned every penny and continues to learn as much as she can to help the company in anyway possible.

"Hmm cupcake come back to sleep." She said in an incredibly raspy voice.  _Ok that's kinda hot._ She reached out and pulled me back onto the couch with her, pulling me into the space between her and the couch. She snuggled up into my neck, pressing her whole body into me so she couldn't fall off the couch. 

One of the things I learned about Carm at a young age was that she was very cuddly in the morning, especially when she had no plans for the day. I learned this during one of our sleepovers as teenagers, back when we used to share a bed and it didn't bother me. Now it bothered me because I literally had a sex dream about her no less than a minute ago and she was being cute. I didn't dare move from my spot under Carmilla's arm though. I tried to escape once and was ignored for the rest of the morning. Sleepy Carm gets a little possessive so I found it's better to just let her hold me rather than the alternative.

I definitely wasn't going back to sleep and I couldn't leave the warm embrace so I let my mind roam, trying to think of anything other than the dull ache presently between my legs.  _Stupid Carmilla and her stupid attractiveness. Stupid wet dream. Stupid feelings._

I could feel her take a deep breath behind me before I heard noise escape her lips. "You know cutie, I think this is the most thinking you've done since college."  _Crap. Of course she knew how deep in thought I was. I'll just play dumb._  

"I'm sleeping Carm, shhh."

"Yeah and I'm the next queen of England." She hugged me tighter to her.  _Not helping my situation here, Carm._ "Seriously Bear, what's been digging at you the last week? Does this have to do with us pretending to be fake-girlfriends? You're uncomfortable with it aren't you?" She was more awake now and I could tell by her tone that she was worried and maybe a little sad.

I turned over so that we could be face to face. "Of course I'm not uncomfortable with you Carm, we're literally body to body on this couch right now."  _Not that I was complaining._ "I guess I'm just nervous about you meeting my family. They're supportive and everything but they can be a little judgmental and protective over me. The last time I brought a girl to meet them they glared at her the entire meal because she made a joke insinuating that I didn't know math. Then continued to do so every time we were together. My aunt called my phone one time because she thought we were having sex and didn't want me 'sleeping with somebody who doesn't appreciate all the parts to me'. It was so awkward!"

"Well were you?" She asked.

"Well was I what?"

"Having sex when you're aunt called?"

"…..seriously?"

"Honest question cupcake. You shouldn't have been 'sleeping with somebody who doesn't appreciate all the parts of you'." She said it in a weird old-ladyish voice that made me laugh.

"Shut up Carm." I pushed her shoulder slightly, causing her to roll before she snapped back into her previous position.

"Seriously Laura. You should be with someone that worships you, not someone that takes you for granted and uses you just get off." She only actually uses my name during serious conversations.

I picked my head up and matched her look, catching the way her eyes changed a bit when she changed her tone. "Plus it makes the sex better when you're actually in love, cupcake. Can't have your family thinking I can't pleasure my girl the right way."

I scrunched my Face. "Ew Carm. Don't use 'my family' and 'pleasure' in the same sentence."

"Well how do you think you got here sweetheart? Some good ol' fashioned lovin'!" 

"Gross Carm! Ugh" I pushed her off the couch then, rolling over so she couldn't come back onto it. She was too busy laughing and rolling around on the floor to notice the look of horror Moose was giving us from his spot on the table.

"You are wound entirely too tight cutie." She said as she got up from the floor and sat on my stomach.

"Get up you big loser!"

"Loser, cupcake, really? I thought we talked about how bullying is wrong." 

"Get your beautiful ass off of me!" I was squirming too much under her touch to try to break from her hold on me to realize what words came out of my mouth.

"You think I have a beautiful ass, huh cupcake?" I stopped squirming and she glanced down at me with a smirk covering her face. She leaned down so she was close to my face again. "I think I do too." I rolled my eyes and she backed away, getting off of me and strolling into the bathroom with a little extra swing in her steps while a giggle falling from her lips. Honestly, she was daring me to look so I did-don't judge me. When the door closed I slumped back onto the couch with Moose jumping to sit on my chest. He shot me an judgmental look.

"Whaaattt? What did I do now?"  _I'm literally talking to a cat._

He gave me another look before putting his head down. I ran my hand through his fur and reached for my phone to check my notifications. No texts, but I had one call and one voicemail. Both were from my grandmother. I sat up and clicked the play button as Moose jumped down to find a new spot to nap.

 **Hello dear, I was just calling to remind you about our dinner in a couple of weeks! I can't wait to meet your little girlfriend! Speaking of which, your status still says single on your Facebook page. I know I'm not good with the times but usually people put that information on their page right Honey? You didn't lie to your dear old grandma did you?** _Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. I didn't even think of that!_   **Anyways, give me a call when you can, love you!**

The message was over and I slapped a hand to my face. Totally regret teaching her about the internet because of course she kept tabs on me. I groaned.

"What's up buttercup?" Carmilla made her way into the kitchen and I followed her, settling down at a stool as she started the coffee maker. Even though it was a Friday and Carmilla didn't have work, she still needed about 3 cups before she could communicate with other human beings-except me of course.

"Looks like my grandma has been stalking my Facebook." She arched an eyebrow until I continued. "She called to say that my status was still 'single' online."

Carmilla snorted a laugh in response. "It's a quick fix cupcake, just change your status."

"Shut up I know that. But what about our friends? Aren't they gonna ask questions?" My updated relationship status was definitely going to garner some questions from them since we barely keep anything from each other. We're kind of gross really, with how close we all are.

"Don't worry about that creampuff, we'll figure it out when it comes up."

"How much you wanna bet Laf is the first one to text me about my 'relationship status'."

"Nuh-uh I'm not taking that bet. You and I both know they stalk Facebook like it's the newest biology text." As smart as Laf was, they spent way too long scrolling social media.

I logged onto the app and changed the status to "In A Relationship" before logging back out and grabbing some hot chocolate to drink as I began timing the reactions of my friends in our big group chat. 

**Laf: AHSFOJEOKNONDEBCISGDIUEHDOHSPWDIJC?**

**Laf: WHAT HOLLIS YOU BETTER ANSWER**

**Laf: DON'T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE**

**Laf: I WILL BRING NEEDLES**

**Danny: Holding out on us Hollis?**

**Kirsch: Did my little hottie find a little hottie of her own?**

**Perry: Good for you dear, I do hope we get to meet her soon!**

**Will: Does she have a sister? Asking for a friend...**

**Carm: What happened to Natalie? I thought you two were dating?**

**Kirsch: Nah bro, Will dodged a bullet**

**Will: seriously. girl was crazy**

**Carm: the hot ones usually are**

**Will: you got that right kitty**

**Danny: Are you bros done? I wanna know who Hollis is sexing**

**Me: DANNY**

**Danny: Ooo is it that hot girl from the grocery store? The one that gave you her number in the bag?**

Carm looked up from her phone and knit her eyebrows together. "You never told me the girl from the store hit on you."

I got nervous all of the sudden but I really don't know why. It's not like Carmilla caught me cheating or something. "Uh it was nothing really, just put her number in the bag when I wasn't looking and told me to give her a call sometime."

"Well when did that happen?" There was a possessiveness to her voice. It was kinda hot.  _Dammit Hollis hold it together for like 3 minutes dude._

"Um a couple weeks ago I guess. I don't know I threw out her number when I got home. Not really my type."   


"Not your type? She was easily a ten." That she was but for some reason I feel like Carmilla and I were having some sort of weird argument and I felt that I should deny anything and everything.

"Not when I've got a 12 waiting for me at home." I said in my best Carmilla voice to de-escalate whatever was going on right now.

"Damn right I'm a twelve." I heard her mutter under her breath.

**Me: No it's not the grocery girl**

**Laf: WHO IS IT?????**

**Perry: Sweetie calm down she'll tell us when she's ready**

**Me: Thank you Perry**

"Alright cupcake, as fun as this is to watch them freak out, I need a shower. Try not to drink all the hot chocolate today." I was going for my third cup when she snatched the mug out of my hands and put it in the sink. I frowned at her and she blew a kiss my way.

* * *

 

I dialed Laf's number as soon as I was in the privacy of my own locked bedroom.

"LAURA"

"Laf calm down."

"Why didn't you tell me you were seeing someone? I thought we were cool." 

"Listen, I don't actually have a girlfriend." I needed someone to talk about this whole thing with.

"WHAT?!"

"Laf if you don't calm down I'm not going to tell you what's going on." I heard silence for the first couple of seconds before they responded.

"Ok sorry L."

"Apology accepted. SoIkindatoldmyfamilythatCarmillaandIweredatingandnowwehavetohavedinnerwiththemsotheycanmeetherandImaybehavefeelingsformybestfriendandIdon'tknowwhattodoandIneedyourhelp." I took a deep breath. "And you CANNOT tell anyone! Not even Perry! Laf this stays between you and me."

"…….I fucking knew it!" What? How could someone have guessed this exact situation?

"Umm, what?"

"I meant that you had feelings for Carmilla! Laur you haven't been subtle about your heart eyes."  _I so do not make heart eyes at Carmilla._

 _"_ Oh yes you so do. It's been that way for a couple of years, L. You ogling Carmilla every time she wears her leather pants, you being defensive about the nature of your not-so-just-friends relationship, and when Carmilla started dating Ell I thought you were gonna have a panic attack." 

"Hey I can appreciate a woman that looks good, me and Carmilla have done nothing that normal friends wouldn't do, and I just didn't like Ell." If Laf was going to take the offense on this I had to take some defense.

"Oh please short stack, no friends care for each other the way that you and Carmilla do. And she feels the same you know. Ever notice how she hasn't been with anyone since Ell? It's because of you L. You were so hurt when she told you that they were in love so she stopped bringing her around you and when they broke up she ran to you and you guys didn't leave your room for  _days_. We all thought you two were gonna die in there."

"I wasn't hurt that they were in love I was shocked because we were in high school and Ell was mean and I was the only one to see that! Annnnddd, she needed to be comforted because they broke up and it was hard for her. I was happy that Carmilla was happy but Ell was a real bitch, I just saw it before everyone else." I said matter-of-factly. 

"Sure L, whatever you say." I could hear the eye roll.

"Whatever, so I have feelings for her. I need your help though with some experiments."

"Experiments?! What kind of experiments?" They were so in.

"Experiments to see of Carmilla is attracted to me too because if she doesn't feel the same way I'm going to keep things under wraps." I started playing with my fingers out of habit.

"L, as I said before, SHE FEELS THE SAME." They got loud and I needed to take the phone away from my ear for a second.

"Aren't you the one always telling me that we need evidence to back up hypotheses?" That'll get them.

"….touché frosh. Alright I'll help you. Come by later and we can step up some plans of attack to get Carmilla into your bed."

"WOW Laf, wow. Why is everyone suddenly concerned with my sex life?"  _Seriously, why are they concerned?_

"Because it's been awhile and certainly time to get your freak on."

"You're gross."

"I think you meant to say 'Thank you Laf for helping me through this time in my life and when Carmilla and I eventually get married and adopt a bunch of babies and live happily ever after I will be forever grateful for you'."My eyes went wide. Married to Carmilla? Children with Carmilla?

"Hold up there nerd, no one said anything about marriage and babies."

"We can discuss that later when you bring food to my house in return for helping you seduce Carmilla." I rolled my eyes.

"Fine. Thanks Laf."

"Save it for the 'Carmilla and I are totally in love' speech we'll be having soon." Another eye roll.

I hung up the phone and started to get ready for my day. I needed to figure out how to even approach the idea of figuring out how Carm feels about me. I groaned. Laf and I had a long day ahead of us.

 

 


	5. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan is made.

"So that's all you have to do." Laf looked pretty pleased with themselves as they crossed their arms over their chest. I, on the other hand, was not as pleased. Laf basically came up with a plan for me to be "sexy" to seduce Carmilla.

There are two major problems with this plan.

**1\. I AM NOT SEXY**

Any girl I have ever dated ever has never once called me "sexy", so I've accepted that I am, in fact, not sexy. I'm awkward and stumble over my words and feet and furniture and basically anything that has ever existed.

**2\. I NEED TO PROVE THAT CARMILLA CAN LOOK AT ME AS MORE THAN HER BEST FRIEND**

Carm and I have been best friends for years so seducing her into my bed is definitely not going to work no matter what Laf says.

"Come on L, you can do it! Dig deep and get your freak on frosh." They sat next to me on the couch.

"Okay, ew. I think that's officially the weirdest thing you've ever said to me and that includes the time you tried to explain animal mating to me freshman year." I grimaced at the memory. It's best not to ask questions about other species and their reproduction habits. Even if it was for class, trust me, it's not something you want to learn about.

"Hey I helped you get an A in that class!"

"You scarred me for life in the process."

"Well I did warn that there are always consequences."

"Fair enough. Doesn't matter though, I don't think I can work with your plan." I sat forward and leaned my face on my hand that was propped up on my knee.

"Are you kidding? You're hot short stack, and Carmilla knows it. If you take her to dinner as a trial run while wearing that tiny black dress in your closet you'll have her eating out of the palm of your hand. Or eating you out."

I groaned. "Oh my god stop." I could feel my face get red.

"It's a natural part of the human existence L, I don't understand why you get embarrassed by a little sex talk." They grabbed a plate full of noodles and spoke as if talking about sex was nothing, but it was. As the only daughter of a very over-protective father, I was sheltered from any and every form of intimacy until I got my first high school girlfriend. He tried to give me the sex talk once and I told him I was gay so that he would stop talking and I think it relived him. I think he wanted to have that talk less than I did honestly. 

"It's a very intimate thing shared between two consenting people who are in love and it is a discussion that should keep to the bedroom." I said through the hands covering my face.

"It's a very dirty, filthy human need that has to be satisfied. Romanticize it all you want L, but your loins are screaming for Carmilla's I bet."

"Oh my god, please don't mention my loins."

"Your lady downstairs? The family jewels? Your reproductive muffin? The pussy cat? I can keep going if you want me to."

"I will throw the rest of my noodles at you if you keep going."

They laughed then turned to me on their couch. "Listen kid, stop being so insecure. The dinner with your family is going to go fine, they'll love Carmilla. And your 'not-really-a-date-but-totally-a-test-date' is going to work out too. Stop over thinking things. I know you can't see it, but your friends who have been around you for years can see that you two have repressed feelings for each other. They may be emotional and you guys will go on and get married and live happily ever after, or they may be sexual and you two will fuck each others brains out until it's gone, then go back to being best friends. Either way, something is definitely there between you two and I think that you should go for it."

The game plan they had come up with earlier involved me asking Carmilla out on a 'pretend date' so that we can 'practice looking like a real couple' and a tight black dress I bought once to try to pick up chicks at the bar. I got seven numbers that night. But this was to see if Carmilla was attracted to me the same way I'm attracted to her. The end of the night also included a 'maybe kiss' if the rest of the night had gone according to plan. The kiss would really tell me if I should chance this whole thing as well as give us some lip practice before family dinner. One thing my family isn't afraid of is a little bit of PDA so we really needed to pack it on if they were going to believe that Carmilla and I were in love.

"You really think I should go for it?" I took my hands away from my face but continued to stare at the floor.

"Yes I think so, and Perry does too." I raised an eyebrow as I shot a look at them. "I told her about your situation. I know you said not to but I needed advice on what to do and she knows Carmilla better than I do. Don't worry, she won't say anything to the others."

"I know she won't." I nodded back.

"It's funny, Kirsch and Danny are betting to see who can come closet to describing the 'mystery girl'." They were playing with the food on their plate.

I rolled my eyes because of course they were betting on my love life. Jeez, you don't date for a couple years and suddenly you're the center of attention once people think you're getting some. Even if you really aren't.

"Yeah well neither will ever come close so it doesn't matter."

"I kinda wanna get in on it so I can win me some money, maybe use it to get something nice for the wifey." It was almost their two year anniversary.

"You should, then get Per something real nice."

"It'll be like stealing candy from some giant, fighting babies."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

By the time I made it back to our apartment it was about 4 in the afternoon. I had told Carmilla earlier that Laf needed my help with a new experiment for their lab and she bought it, so I slipped out the door before she could ask any detailed questions. When I stepped into the living room, Carmilla was sitting on the floor and playing with one of Moose's toys in front of him. He sat ready to pounce on the toy as he followed the small plastic ball with his eyes.

"You know, if you wanted your own cat toys to play with I would be more than happy to get you some." I broke the silence once I noticed that she didn't acknowledge that I had returned.

She shook out of her trance on the ball and looked up at me. She had put on her glasses today, letting her jet black hair fall perfectly messily down her shoulders and back. She was in a grey v-neck which had moved slightly to show she was wearing a black lace bra and wearing black leggings that stopped just above the knee. When she got up and bent over to put the toy back into the crate with the rest of the cat toys, I had to bite back a noise that threatened to escape because the leggings were a little see-through and I didn't need Carmilla knowing that I was enjoying the show. 

She turned back around and straightened up, sauntering over so she was standing just a foot in front of me. "Very funny cream puff, but we both know I only like certain toys." She said as she put her hands on her hips after fixing her shirt so the bra was covered. I'm like 92% positive her words alone would've made me wet if not for the display earlier. I bit my lip involuntarily at her words.

Recovering, I responded back. "Yeah, but are you sure you're using them correctly?" For some reason being in Carmilla's presence erased any insecurities and pumped me with confidence. Maybe it's because after years of her flirtatious comments you learn how to counter.

"Oh? Is that a challenge cupcake?" She inched closer until she was almost touching my nose with hers. "Because I'm not opposed to a little show and tell." Her voice dropped a few octaves and I barely kept my composure. Luckily for me, as she chuckled she backed off and went to grab us sodas from the kitchen as I plopped down on the couch. I let out a shaky breath and ran a hand through my hair. It was time for the second sold shower of the day, this time with a little  _release_ to relieve me of the thoughts of Carmilla using her special toys on me.  _Shut it down Hollis._

"So what did the science nerd need from you today?" She said as she came back into the room and placed our drinks on the table.

"Oh uh-they just wanted me to write down some data for them."  _Totally a lie, we were talking about me and you._

"Gross."

"I know."

She moved so that she was laying down with her head in my lap.

"So I was thinking-"

"I was bored without you today-" 

We both started talking at the same time. She looked up from my lap.

"Go ahead first cutie." She gave me a sweet smile and it made me smile in return.

"No you go, I'll tell you after." She scoffed but started talking again.

"I was just saying that I was bored here without you. You usually are forcing me to watch some British TV show you discovered or holed up in your room working on an article that it was weird not being able to bother you today."  _She missed me when I was gone for like 3 hours. Did that mean something?_

"Sorry,  _cutie_ , but one of us was summoned by a friend for help on work." She sat up and tuned her body towards me.

"I ask you for help all the time with my work and you always refuse to help me."

"That's because I literally have no idea what's going on in your business. You could be running an elaborate drug ring for all I know."

"Maybe if you listened when I talked-"

"I do listen!"

"Keep telling yourself that cupcake." I rolled my eyes. I did listen to her, but it was  _so_ boring that it would go in one ear and out the other. 

"So what were you going to say?" She scooted back so she was holding herself up on her right hand that was placed on the other side of my thighs, her right hip was pressed up against my left thigh, and her torso was turned completely facing mine.

"Well, I, um, I guess I was gonna ask if you wanted to go out to a nice dinner tonight? You know that fancy new steak place that just opened up on the other side of town?" I was looking anywhere else but her face.

"Is little Laura Hollis asking me out on a date?" I could  _hear_ the smirk.

"I mean I guess? It's just that we probably need to pretend to be a real couple so we can look real to my family and I figured that maybe going to dinner was a good start but if its too weird or something we can order in and watch a movie or something." I was fidgeting with my fingers in my lap.  _Stupid nervous habit._

"Laura look at me." I brought me gaze up and stared right into her dark eyes. "I would love to go to dinner with you tonight. You don't need to be nervous about anything, we can handle your family together, I promise."

"Thanks Carm." We kept looking at each others eyes for a few more moments.

"You know that place is like super expensive right?" She said as she got up from the couch.

"I know, but I can't have people thinking I can't woo my woman, woman." I said with a wink.

"Are we starting the pretend now?" She asked with a squint of her eyes.

"We  can."

"Good." She turned and made her way towards her room before turning around and glancing back at me. "Because I'm going to show you how to woo your woman, Hollis."

Before she closed the door I shouted back at her. "You're on Karnstein."

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I haven't been able to update, but I promise to make it up to you guys with the next update! Thanks for reading!


	6. Is This Pretend?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and Carmilla go on their date…things happen, feelings happen, I don't even know what's going on anymore with these two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this makes up for the late update…..or maybe not ;P

I'm going on a date with Carmilla Karnstein. Me-weird, awkward, Laura Hollis-is going on a date with the woman of my dreams. Don't freak out, don't mess up, don't be your  usual awkward self, Hollis! Get it together! You look hot!

I walked out of my bedroom and into our kitchen about forty-five minutes after basically asking Carmilla out on a date. I had on my tight, short black dress that had a long v-cut in front and ended at the bottom of my sternum. It covered enough to say "classy" and left enough skin exposed to say "fuck me". I pushed the hair out of my eyes, letting it fall back over my shoulders and quickly put on my heels. I always wear heels on dates. They give me some kind of courage while also making me taller so that I don't have to struggle to see my date.

You can do this Hollis. Be sexy, be cute, be…..anything other than usual. Make her see you differently! Go for something for once in your life!

My internal pep-talk was interrupted at the sound of Carmilla's door opening. I turned around as I heard the unmistakable sound of her black heels hitting the floor. These are the heels Carmilla uses on the rare occasion of work dinners, where potential clients needed a little bit more of a persuasive voice to convince them to commit to Morgan Industries. Without a doubt her heels make her legs and her ass look very persuasive. Not that I've noticed.

My eyes locked in on her legs first, shiny and perfectly toned. Next came her dress, a short red one that barely touched mid-thigh and left little to the imagination of Carmilla's devine curves. I caught a sight of the red clutch purse in her right hand, but was distracted by the way her arms were highlighted by her sleeve-lessness. She reached up to put a strand of hair back under her ear and I followed every movement. Her hair was pulled back into a low bun, giving her look a sophisticated vibe. Her eyes found mine and she smirked before getting a look at my outfit. I should be embarrassed that I was caught ogling my best friend but this was pretend and I could ogle my fake-girlfriend. Right?

"Well don't you look like a virgin sacrifice?" She said after a few moments of looking over my body.

Once I began to breathe again I narrowed my eyes at her. "What part of this outfit says 'virgin' to you?" I have a little too much knowledge of hot and heavy moments to be considered a virgin. Although I am virgin to her. If this all goes right than hopefully not for long.

"The fact that I've yet to take it off of you." She was confident in her words as she inched her way closer and closer to mine.

I sucked in a breath. "Well you don't look so bad yourself."

She scoffed. "You sure know how to make your woman feel pretty, cupcake."

I mentally slapped myself in the face. Shit. We're pretending and I've already fucked up.

In a spur-of-the-moment confidence kick I grabbed Carmilla's waist and pulled her against me. "You look absolutely breathtaking Carm." 

I watched as her eyes looking deeply into mine as if she were looking for something in them. Before I had the chance to ask her what she was looking for she pushed a disobedient hair out of my face and sunk into my embrace. She grazed my cheek with her lips and suddenly my entire body felt like it was on fire. You're such a sucker.

"You are just too sweet, sugar."

When she smiled at me I noticed that it was different. Different than the smirks she uses to lure women in, different than the shit eating grin she uses on me when she knows she's right, and different than the smile she gives my father when they're talking about sports. This smile seemed like it was just for my eyes to see, just for me to appreciate and explore for more of them. 

I could feel her playing with the fabric of my dress with her fingertips, an action she does whenever she feels nervous. I almost snorted. A Karnstein. Nervous about going on a date with me. How very strange.

"Come on love, we have to get going if we want to make it to the restaurant on time." I said as I pulled away from Carmilla. Maybe I was pushing it with the nickname, but I was going to savor this moment in case I couldn't ever have it again.

* * *

 

"This place is even better than I expected it to be." We were sitting at a circular booth off to the side, secluded from others as much as we could be. There were still people around, the place was packed, but with the tall walls of the booth it seemed as though it was just me and Carm.

She hummed in response as she took a sip of her red wine, the only kind of wine that she actually drinks. Usually Carm's drink of choice is whiskey over ice but since we're on a "date" she wanted to stay high-class.

"It's nothing compared to the sight of the beautiful woman in front of me." She smirked over the table at me. I was glad to be sat on the opposite side of her because I'm not sure that I could keep my hands to myself with all the flirting going on.

"I wish you weren't sitting so far away creampuff, you look absolutely delectable." She's biting her lip. Holy Hufflepuff she's looking at you like you're her prey and she's biting her lip. Stay cool Hollis. She's just pretending. This is what she does with all of her dates.

I took a shaky breath and opened my mouth.

"Bear! Is that you?!" I snapped my head around to see who was calling my name. There are only a handful of people that know I have that nickname and one of them was sitting in front of me so it couldn't have been her.

"Cousin Laura I'm down here!" I looked down to find my cousin Henry tugging on my arm. I scooped him up and kissed his cheek as I set him down on my lap.

"Henry! How's my favorite little guy?" I ruffled up his perfectly combed hair a little bit. He looked so cute in his little suit and his navy bow tie. 

"Mommy and Daddy took me here for dinner for Daddy's birthday!" His parents made their way over to the table and each gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello Laura."

"Hey guys."

"Laura," Henry was tapping on my collar bone. "Who's this?" He pointed to Carm.

"Uh-that's my girlfriend, Carmilla." My heart skipped a beat at hearing myself call Carmilla my girlfriend. We locked eyes and she had a softer face than usual.

He leaned up to whisper in my ear but it came out as normal volume. He wasn't great at whispering yet. "She's pretty."

Carmilla crinkled her nose a bit when she smiled at the compliment. "I know." I said back to him in the same voice, never breaking my eye contact with Carmilla.

"So this is the girl you're brining to dinner then? What a lady killer. It's nice to meet you Carmilla." My aunt turned and started a conversation with Carmilla.

"Uh-thanks. It's nice to meet you too." I let out a soft chuckle. Carmilla's beauty was undeniable, even to straight women. She turned many of them while were still in school. They shook hands and continued a conversation about work or something but I wasn't paying attention.

"Hey Bear?" I looked down at Henry.

"Yeah buddy?"

"Is she gonna be around for awhile?" Well I really fucking hope so.

"I think so little dude. I think so." He smiled at me and shifted to look at Carmilla who made funny faces at him. Pretty soon both were laughing at the ridiculous faces the other was making.

"Alright Henry, let's leave your cousin for her date. It was good to see you Laura, and Carmilla I look foreword to seeing you at dinner." His dad said, lifting Henry into his arms. For once they looked like a happy family which was a strange sight to see.

We finished our good-byes and I turned back to my date. A bit of her lip stick had smudged because of the faces she  was making at Henry so I slid over next to her and wet the edge of it in the water. She gave me a look as I cleaned off her face.

"You messed up your lipstick, hun." She looked down at my lips for a second and my heart stopped beating. Do it. Kiss her.

I caught the sight of the waitress bringing our food over and I slid back to my original spot. Cockblocked by food. Never thought I would have to see the day I got mad at deliciousness. 

"I didn't know you had a little cousin." She said once waitress placed our food in front of us.

"Yeah that's Henry. I pretty much spend all my time with him at family parties to escape the arsenal of love life questions." 

"He's cute….just like his cousin." She said with an arch of her eyebrow.

"Caarrrmmm." She's killing me with all of this flirting.

"Just accept it cupcake, this is what you agreed to."

"I do not remember agreeing to cheesy flirting." I said as I carefully placed food in my mouth. Just because it's Carmilla I'm on a 'date' with doesn't mean I can stuff my face like an animal.

"Ah but it's part of the Carmilla-girlfriend package cutie." I rolled my eyes and laughed. Of course it is.

X

After finishing dinner, Carmilla and I were in a heavy debate about the latest episode of Doctor Who. 

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in." Betty, Will's ex-girlfriend, was standing next to our table and placed her hand on Carmilla's shoulder. I could feel the rage of jealousy surge through my body but I pushed it down.

"Hey Bets." Carmilla answered and shot her a tight smile. Betty and Carmilla stayed friends after Will and Betty broke up since they both have similar sarcastic humor. I, on the other hand, was not a big fan of Betty right now.

"Your friends each owe me 20 bucks you know." We both gave her confused looks. "I heard from Facebook that Laura here had finally found herself a girlfriend and I told them that it was you. Turns out I fucking nailed it." She strutted away with a "suck it" look on her face. Carmilla just shrugged.

The bill came a second later and I reached out to grab it. I asked her here after all so I was going to pay for it. Carmilla snapped it out of my grasp as soon as it was off the table.

"Carm what are you doing I have to pay for that."

"Nope. Not today beautiful, this one's on me." She stuck her tongue out then placed her credit card in the bill and closed it.

"No that's not fair. I asked you here, I should pay for it." I made a reach at the bill but she slapped my hand out of the way.

"And I am a gentlewoman and would never let my date pay for me so I'm paying." She said matter-of-factly.

"But I always pay!" I kind of, maybe whined.

"I have a few thoughts about how you could return the favor, cutie." I blushed, like full on tomato-red blushed. Any thoughts about Carm and I being intimate like that….lets just say I'm having very inappropriate thoughts about that.

She signed for the check and made our way to the exit, enjoying the way she wrapped her arm around my waist as she pulled me closer. 

* * *

"I've gotta tell you sweetheart, I don't think I've ever enjoyed dinner this much." Carmilla said as we stepped in front of our apartment door. Her fingers had been intertwined with mine for the past 20 minutes and I'm pretty sure my heart has been beating out of my chest for the same amount of time.

"Me either Carm, even if you're wrong about the Doctor." I said as I brushed my thumb over the back of her hand.

"We'll see about that cupcake." She mumbled in response.

She was looking into my eyes and I got lost. Lost in the sweet chocolateness of her irises, lost in the way she looked vulnerable and confident all at the same time, and lost in the way she was looking at me, in the way that she was making me feel. It was time to kiss her, it had gotten to that point in the date, and I needed to girl the hell up and do it. 

She was saying something-her lips were moving-but I pushed forward and I kissed her. I panicked when she froze against me but then she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me as close as her body would let her. Her lips were soft and moving perfectly with mine, matching my pace and passion. I put everything I've ever wanted to say, all my thoughts and feelings and emotions about Carmilla into that kiss, and I was loving it. I never wanted it to end. I brought my left hand up from where it was positioned on her shoulder and threaded it through her black locks. Her hair was soft and slid through my fingers with ease. Suddenly the kiss got deeper and electricity was flowing through my body: through my tongue as she touched it with hers, through my skin as we pushed up against each other, and through a certain exclusive area that has definitely never felt like this with any other person I've been with.

I felt my body be turned around and pushed on the door, Carmilla's body never leaving mine. I let out a gasped whimper at the contact and Carmilla ripped herself away from me. I opened my eyes in confusion and frowned at the loss of her warm body. 

"What's wrong?" I panted. Pull yourself together dude.

"What are we doing?" She breathed back as if we weren't just making out against the door. Damn this girl has stamina.

"Do I really need to explain that to you or was it more of a rhetorical question?"

"Laura I'm serious." 

"Listen," I started as I got off the door and walked back to her, putting my hands on her arms as I did so. "I don't know what's going on but I like it. And this is pretend right?" I could feel the pang in my heart as I said that.

"Pretend?" She looked hurt as she said it.

"It doesn't have to be." Adrenaline was coursing through my veins at the thought of this whole night being real.

"No, no. You're right, this is just pretend. Well, it's pretty late and we should go to bed." She quickly opened the door and sprinted past me and into her room.

I was left standing at the door of our apartment with an aching chest, a lot of questions about what the hell just happened, and the tingling of Carmilla on my lips.

What have you done now Hollis?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say HI! or yell at me


	7. Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and Carmilla discuss what happened in the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are so sweet and supportive and I just want to say thank you for reading and loving this story as much as I do!

_You just kissed Carmilla. You just kissed her and fucked everything up._

I ran a hand through my hair to tame it and pushed forward into the apartment. From what I could see and hear Carmilla has closed herself off from me.

How was I supposed to know that was going to happen? That everything would go from fine to utter and complete shit in a matter of seconds? Was it me? Am I a bad kisser? Was I not suppose to touch her hair? I know she has a weird thing about that but did it also apply to kissing?

I shut my door quietly behind me and slammed my head back against the door. My body was still tingling from her touch. My lips could feel the warmth of hers still. My heart is cracked and my mind is yelling at me. I took a chance and I messed up.

_I need to go apologize to her for that. I can tell her she doesn't have to come with me to dinner and tell my family we broke up. Yeah, I can do that. It wouldn't be the first time I've disappointed them and I sincerely doubt it will be the last._

I snatched my phone out of my purse and dialed Laf's number. I was in mid-panic and I needed someone to get my head thinking straight. 

"L! Did my brilliant plan work? Are you and Carmilla going to have dirty, mind-blowing sexytime?!" 

"Actually that's why I called you," I spoke into the phone as I started to pace the room. "So the date was awesome and she was hardcore flirting the whole time and when we got back here I took a chance and I kissed her and she kissed me back but then she pulled away from me and locked herself in her room like she found out I was actually her second cousin or something." I rushed out.

There was a pause before they answered. "You know L, you have some weird analogies. Seriously, where did you learn these things?"

I sighed. "Can we please focus on my issue at the moment?"

"Fine, fine. So you kissed her and she rejected you?" 

"Yes..no. Not exactly." I furrowed my eyebrow.

"I'm gonna need a couple more details than that frosh, it's not like I was there to see what happened." They said with a bit of a tone.

I rolled my eyes.

"When she pulled away from me she asked what we were doing and I told her we were pretending." I closed my eyes and hit myself in the face with my stuffed dolphin.  _Hollis you idiot, she didn't want it to be pretend._

"By the sound of the face-slap I'm guessing you just realized what you did wrong." They sounded pleased with themselves but I other things to worry about.

"Pretty much. Thanks for letting me talk Laf."

"Anytime short stack, now go win back your lady friend."

I hung up the phone and plugged it in on my bedside table. I grabbed my warm, red sweatpants out of my dresser and a white tank top to change into before I went in to apologize to Carm for being so stupid.  

_Might as well be comfortable._

After putting my clothes into my hamper and putting on fresh undergarments, I threw on some socks and my pjs so I could walk across the loft.

I knocked twice on her bedroom door and slowly turned the knob, giving her a few chances to yell at me and tell me she hated me.  _It's my fault, everything always is. Maybe if you stopped fucking up Hollis you'd actually have a girlfriend by now._

Carmilla was sitting in the middle of her dark grey sheets with her legs crossed. She had changed out of her clothes so that she too was in pajama bottoms and a loose shirt, her hair now cascading down around her face.

I walked to the end of her bed and stood there, waiting for her to acknowledge that I had inhabited the space there like I did when we were kids. Anytime something bad happened to Carmilla I would wait for her to invite me next to her rather than just jump on her with affection so she couldn't push me away because it was _her_ initiating the contact.  

She ran her fingers over the front of a picture frame containing a photo of the two of us. It was from our freshmen year of college, back when Carmilla and I had just turned 19. We were wrapped around each other on my tiny dorm-room bed, both of our heads sharing my yellow pillow. I was asleep in the picture and Carmilla was looking at me like I was going to break at any moment. She made the situation seem much more dramatic than it should of, but that's Carmilla so it was dramatic. It was snowing and we were all stuck inside because the storm was so bad. I, being the giant scaredy-cat that I was, was terrified of the noises coming from outside. We could hear car windows breaking from the hail and the wind was so strong it was practically taking the brick off of the building. When Carm noticed how freaked out I was by the storm she came and curled me into her to protect me from the storm. It was sweet since she not only comforted me, but she also showed her soft and caring side in front of another person. Laf was in our room while Perry made her rounds as floor don and they snapped the picture of Carmilla and I to "keep proof that Carmilla is actually a big teddy bear underneath the brooding goth front." I never even noticed that Carmilla had kept that picture. 

"Hey." It was tentative, but it was a start.

"Hey." She put the picture down on the table next to her, then she patted the space to the left of her for me to sit in.

I climbed on the bed and matched my body to hers. Out of a nervous habit I began to play with my fingers.

"I should apologize, Carm." I said after a few silent moments.

I looked up to meet her gaze but she was staring at my fingers instead.

"Apologize for what cupcake?" She was trying to be her usual self but the confidence was long gone from her voice. It broke my heart even more to think that I was the one to strip her of that.

"For earlier, for everything really. I shouldn't have dragged you into this and I shouldn't have messed everything up by kissing you and I'm just really sorry for being such a fucking idiot." My voice was wavering, I could hear it, but I pushed through. She needed to hear my words.

She finally looked into my eyes and she opened her mouth but no sound was coming out. She closed it and tried to speak again.

"The last time someone apologized for kissing me I punched them in the face, you know." Her broody front was starting to come back up but I couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or a bad one.

I narrowed my eyes at her.

"I know I fucked up bad but please don't punch me in the face. I don't need Danny to come over here thinking she has to avenge me or something like that." She shook her head with a tight smile.

"If the crimson warrior tries to come at me I'll just crouch to the floor to escape her arm span."

"Does that mean you're still gonna punch me in the face?" I scrunched my nose. As much as I deserved it I really didn't want to be hit in the face.

"And break that adorable nose? I wouldn't dare." She booped my nose but her small smile fell as her hand did. She sighed and looked back into my eyes.  "You don't have to apologize for anything, Laura. I'm the one who should be sorry. I just-" She stopped and looked down at her own hands.

"I'm about to tell you something but you have to promise me that it's not going to ruin our friendship. Can you promise me that you won't run away from me?" I was beginning to get worried.  _Did she like, murder someone or something? Did she rob a store before we went to dinner and now the cops are gonna come for us?_

I nodded my head twice.

She let out a breath.

"Laura, I've wanted you to kiss me ever since we were at that stupid party for my 16th birthday. When I blew out the candles, I wished for your lips. It was so dumb, I was pinning after you and you looked at everyone but me. How could you not? What was so special about me? I was just a friend to you. I am just a friend to you, and I'm willing to go back to being just that but I got caught up. I got too sucked into believing that you actually wanted me too, but you're right. I agreed to _pretend_ to be your girlfriend and I'll learn to distance my feelings from the situation so this doesn't happen again." She looked up again, this time a tear was running down her face.

_Holy shit she's wanted to kiss me ever since we were 16?! What?!_

My heart was beating so fast that I thought it might burst out of my chest.

"Carm…" It came out as barely a whisper. One of my hands held hers and I brought the other one up to brush away the falling tears.

"I'm sorry for making things weird, can we go back to normal? To everyday Carmilla and Laura?" She cleared her throat.

"Carm I don't want to go back to normal."

She raised an eyebrow. "What?" She sniffled back.

"Do you remember that time when we snuck onto my rooftop and we looked out at the stars when we were 13?" Now I was crying too.

"Laura what does that have to do with anything?"

I ignored her and continued my story. "My mom had walked out that day and you came over to calm me down from my hysterical crying. We laid on my blanket and you squeezed my hand to remind me that you weren't going anywhere. I felt so safe and loved in that moment. It was as if I was being put back together and you were the glue to do it." I brought our hands up and kissed the back of hers.

"I didn't comprehend it then, but that was when I guess my heart woke up and picked you." My thumb ran back and forth over her hand. "I've been in love with you ever since we were 13 and I'm just now understanding why I've never felt the same way about you that I have about our other friends. You're it, Carm. You've always been the one I've wanted but I was too stupid to recognize it earlier."

The tears were gone now. I was putting my heart on the line but I wasn't scared because my heart was Carmilla's. It's always been Carmilla's.

She leaned forward and caught my lips for a soft kiss. It was slow but there was so many unvocalized things behind it. I pulled away and rested my head against hers. 

"I really like you Laura." She said as she wiped away the remnants our crying.

"I really like you Carm." I giggled.

Her hands took hold of my cheeks and brought me back in for a few kisses.  _This is going way better than I thought it was going to go._

"Was it everything that 16 year old Carmilla had hoped it was?" I said jokingly. My eyes were closed but I could feel the smile.

She pushed me on my back so she could hover over me. When I opened my eyes she smirked.

"16 year old me was nowhere close to how soft your lips actually are." She gave me a lazy kiss.

"What else did 16 year old you think about me?" My lips tugged up into a smile when she interlocked her fingers with mine and put them next to my head as she pressed her body against mine. 

I expected a snarky comment that was overly inappropriate but I was met with one that was completely the opposite.

"She thought about your smile, and how it could light up a room." She traced my lips with a fingertip. "She thought about your laugh and how the sound is sweeter than any only sound in the universe."

Another kiss.

She hummed before she started again. "I thought about how beautiful you were and how out of my league you were."

I let out a snort. "Carm you were out of my league. Hell you still are." I ran my hands down her sides and felt her shiver at the foreign touch of my fingers.

"Laura I've never seen anything that has ever compared to you." I brought my head up to meet hers, each kiss longer than the last.

I broke away and put my head back down.  _Carmilla thinks I'm beautiful. She likes me. She really actually likes me._

"What are you smiling about cupcake?" She pecked my nose. And rolled over so she was lying next to me. 

We turned towards each other.

"I can't believe this is real. I can't believe that you like me." 

She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"I can't believe it either, sweetness." 

I outlined the edge of her jaw with my thumb. 

_This is real. And I'm happy. And I'm with Carmilla. I'm with my best friend._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> …hehehe. I think you guys deserved a sweet chapter for being so awesome.
> 
> living-in-water.tumblr.com


	8. She Makes Me Wanna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What are we?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What happens next?

"What is it? What thoughts are running through that pretty little head of yours?" Her voice was deep with sleep and full of affection.

It was early in the morning, the sun was peeking through the curtains in her room and illuminating her soft features. We had fallen asleep in each other's arms yet somehow in the middle of the night I had ended up completely on top of Carmilla. This isn't a new thing, whenever Carm and I had slept in the same bed we had always ended up clinging to each other at some time during the night. But waking up in her arms feels different. Waking up in Carmilla's arms feels safe and warm. 

"I know my eyes are closed cupcake but I can feel you staring." One of her eyes opened a bit as her lips curved up.

I scoffed. "I'm not  _staring_ , I'm appreciating." 

"It's creepy."

"It's cute!"

Her eyes were fully opened now as she squinted up at me.

"You think it's cute to gape at me like I'm a piece of meat?"

"I think it's cute I get to examine what you're working with."

She full blown laughed out loud at that, pushing me off slightly as she did so. She turned to face me (as much as she could since the bottom half of our bodies had somehow tangled together) and smiled a genuine, light-hearted smile.  _She's so adorable in the morning._

"You still haven't told me what you're thinking about, cutie." 

She grabbed my hand and brought it to her lips, ghosting over them.

"You," I said truthfully.

She smirked.

"How could you not? Have you seen this ass?!" She slapped a hand on her backside.

I chuckled and shook my head as I rolled out of bed to start the coffee maker. As much as I wanted to continue the conversation with Carmilla, I needed some hot cocoa and a few cookies before I started my day. Just because our relationship changed into something more doesn't mean that she gets to mess up my morning routine with her sexy sleepy voice and abundant attractiveness.

* * *

 

It's been about two weeks and every moment with Carmilla has been a dream. Kissing Carmilla has become one of my favorite activities. The warmth of her mouth against mine, the way she gently tugs at my bottom lip with her teeth, the softness of her lips: they've all become parts of a whole incredible experience. I've always been one for kissing but with Carmilla I want to do it all the time. It's like I just can't get enough.

Life has changed a little bit ever since our admission to each other. Carmilla is also different. There's still the flirting and the confidence and sarcasm, but she's also a lot more touchy. Like more than I would've expected. She a clinger when it comes to sleeping, her arms surround me and keep me warm and snuggled. She involuntarily trails her fingers up and down my thigh or my arm when we're sitting on the couch or at the dinner table. But I think my favorite thing about this side of Carmilla is that she's smiling her real smile more. Carm's always been one to hide her emotions, especially when it comes to happiness, but I've noticed that the smile that can make my heart stop is one that she flashes more often now. 

We sleep in her bed most nights-her sheets  _are_  softer than mine. We've also started to cook dinner together and now it has become a regular thing. I would live off of chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate if I was left to my own devices, but Carmilla insists that we have to eat "real food" and a diet of "sugar" isn't the way to go through life. I disagree but Carm actually makes cooking fun…and kind of sexy. Like the way that she licks the spoon when she's making sauce or the way she bites her lip as she reads recipes. 

It makes me seem like a horny teenager the way that I drool over her but this woman can bring Zeus to his knees. It's bad enough that I catch myself staring, now Carmilla has caught me staring too. It's not my fault the scrunched up nose thing she does makes my heart beat really fast. Or that my eyes are glued to the droplets that run down her chest after she gets out of the shower. I'm just sitting there minding my own business and she comes walking in like she runs the place-which she  _does-_ but she'll never know that.

Moose jumped up onto the pillow next to me and it brought my focus back to the T.V. I was sitting on the couch watching the news while I was waiting for Carm to get home. It was Friday night and we had plans to cook some dinner and watch a movie, just like we used to do before we got together.  _Not together-together, because we haven't had that talk yet, but like more than friends together._

Being with Carmilla, that was something that I haven't had the chance to talk to her about yet because we've been so concentrated on each other. It's what I want, I want to be with Carmilla more than anything, but I also don't want to push her into something that she's not ready for. Carmilla has never been one for relationships and I want to be the last person that brings it up in fear of pushing her away from me.

The sound of keys slotting into the doorway made me spin my head around to give Carmilla a "welcome home" kiss. It's gross, I know, but I like to be gross with her. 

"This is something I can definitely get used to, cupcake," she said with a smirk on her face.

I twisted my face in confusion at her statement.  _What the hell was she talking about?_

She smiled and shook her head at the lost look on my face as she sat down on the coffee table right in front of me. I leaned forward and she gave me a chaste kiss to my lips.

"You're in nothing but underwear and  _my_  shirt, cutie." Her index finger ran slowly up my thigh.  _This is making me think very dirty thoughts._

"You like that?" I was in her moon phases shirt. It smells the most like her. Shut-up.

"I have all kinds of thoughts about that."

Her hand grasped the nape of my neck and she pulled me into a much more PG-13 kiss. I didn't want it to stop but my stomach had other plans. 

Carmilla pulled away at the interruption but she kept her lips close to mine.

"It seems that somebody's hungry."

It was a factual statement but all of this sudden tension in the air made it hard to take a full breath. She was pure seduction in her black pencil skirt and white button up blouse, her glasses perfectly positioned on her nose. It was almost if she  _knows_  I have a secret boss fantasy and she's testing to see if I can keep my hands to myself. If I wasn't so hungry I'd be eating  _her_  for dinner but If I didn't eat real food soon I'd have no energy to entice her later.

"Stupid stomach," I mumbled as she got off the coffee table.

She disappeared into her room and I took the opportunity to put back on the sweats I had discarded an hour earlier. I forgot I had taken them off when I went to take a shower and Carmilla was too busy plaguing my mind to remember to put pants back on. Now I'm extremely hungry and equally as sexually frustrated.

_Stupid sexy Carmilla and her magical pull on me. She makes me wanna do dirty things._

Can we even do those things? Technically this thing we've got has only been a thing for a couple weeks. That's definitely too soon to be intimate for a normal relationship (by my standards anyway) but Carm and I have known each other for  _years._  We live together. She's my best friend dammit! I'm just so confused as to where we're suppose to be in this relationship- _can I even call it that?_

Is there a Nicholas Sparks book for this kinda thing? Where some chiseled guy discovers he's been in love with his best friend and she tells him that she's fallen for him too? Do they live happily ever after? Do they have that awkward phase where they tip toe around each other? Does their relationship dynamic change at all? Some of the best parts of my friendship with Carmilla is how easy it is to be friends with her. She was everything fun! She's the only one that knows how to make me smile and laugh when I'm sad. We have so many inside jokes that it makes even Laf and Perry uncomfortable and those two only communicate in inside jokes. 

Carmilla walked  out a second later in a black tank top and questionably short black running shorts. She was talking, I could hear the noise of her vocal cords producing sounds, but I was gushing over her toned legs. Her skin was perfect, her body was perfect, I could take her right there on the kitchen floor.  _Annnnnnddddd welcome back stereotypically horny teenage boy Laura Hollis._

I shut my mouth and my eyes, sucking in a deep breath to calm down my excited downstairs. I felt the weight of her body press down onto my lap and slowly opened my eyes back up. She wrapped an arm around my neck and frowned at me.

"Cupcake I much prefer the image of you without pants." She gave me a kiss.

"Whoa there ladykiller,"  _seriously_ ,  _she_   _was_   _killing_   _me_   _today_. "Food first, smooching later." I still needed to eat food.

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, I guess we can feed you."

She gave me a peck on the cheek and strolled over to the kitchen, pulling me along with her. 

* * *

 

I slid my hands up her slides and loved the way she whimpered at my touch. Her lips were nipping at my neck and my chest was heaving. All this making out with Carmilla was getting me more frustrated with every kiss.

I turned my head to catch her lips with mine. She tasted like the grape soda she drank with dinner. I rolled her hips into mine using my hands, hoping to get more friction before I combust.

She pulled away and rested her forehead against mine. "Laura."

I brushed strands of her hair behind her ears as she shifted her bodyweight partially on me and partially on her forearms that surrounded my head.

"Carm."

She finally got comfortable when she settled her body in between my legs.  _Not helping right now._

"What are you doing to me?" Her voice came out soft, any trace of breathlessness gone.

I quirked an eyebrow.

"You make me feel like a teenager again, wanting to take you right here on this couch," she chuckled back. She placed a gentle kiss on my lips  and pulled away again. 

"I've heard I'm quite the catch, Karnstein," I teased back.

"Full of yourself much?" 

"I'd rather be full of  _you_."

Maybe if I hinted at it then Carmilla will tell me where we stand. It's not even about the sex, I can wait as long as she wants, it's about finding out at which phase of the relationship we're in right now.

I could feel her suck in a breath and heard how shaky it came out.

"You're starting to sound more and more like me cupcake," she smirked back but I couldn't tell if she was deflecting or adding to the tension.

"Well I did learn from the best."

I pulled the back of her head down to kiss me and she slipped her tongue into my mouth. I moaned at the feeling of her inside my mouth.

We still haven't talked about our thing and this was probably the only time we were going to be able to.

"Carm wait," I pulled away.

"What happened? Did I do something wrong?" Her eyes were full of nothing but concern and my heart was soaring.

"No of course not, I just…I think we should talk about what this is that we've got going on. I don't wanna be  _that_  girl but I," I bit my lip as I thought of the words I wanted to say. "I just wanna know where we stand Carm. What are we doing?"

"What do you mean by that?" She squinted a bit.

"Like are we together, I guess? Like are we girlfriends? Are we dating? Are we just best friends that occasionally have sex?"

She shook her head and sat back on her knees. I got up and leaned back against my elbows.

"Sweetheart it bothers me that you even have to ask me that. I'm guessing this isn't the first time you've had to ask this question."

I dropped my head. It wasn't.

"The last time I asked a girl she broke my heart and told me I was her booty call when her real girlfriend was on her period." I don't like to think about that anymore.

"Jesus cupcake, that's horrible."

She looked angry, sad, and sorry all at the same time.

"Yeah it was pretty bad."

"Listen, Laura," she pulled me up so I was in a seated position. "I want to be with you. I want to be your girlfriend and I want to experience life with you."

A smile spread across her face as she started talking and it mirrored onto me.

"We've never really been ones to do things by the books and I feel like this doesn't need to go by the books either. I mean we've practically been dating for years but now it can actually be real."

I cupped her cheek and looked into her eyes.

"Carm I want that too. God I want that too. I don't need labels, I just need you."

We kissed again, this one feeling more like the first. Slow, but not too slow, and loving and meaningful. She shifted so she was straddling my lap.

"I guess we don't need to pretend for your family anymore, huh?" 

I chuckled.

"Yeah I guess not. It'll make Friday a lot easier."

Only three days left until I introduce Carmilla to my family as my girlfriend.  _That feels nice to say, girlfriend._ I guess now I feel nervous about introducing her to my family and less about the fact that we could be caught for lying. Which we can't. Because she's my girlfriend. Carmilla is my girlfriend.

My smile spread from ear to ear.

She ran her fingers through my hair, lightly massaging my scalp.

"Hey Carm?"

"Yeah cutie?"

She was still playing with my hair and I loved the feel of it.

"How do you feel about pet names?" I began to rub my hands along her back softly.

"Like during sex?" It wasn't meant to be sexual in any way but it still made me blush.

"Nooo, I meant kinda like the way you call me 'cupcake' or 'cutie' or 'cream puff'. I was asking if I could use some names for you too." We both stopped our movements.

"You can call me whatever you wanna call me, creampuff."

I took a swipe at her neck with my tongue. "How about sexy?" I said playfully.

She shuttered underneath me and I ran my hands down her body and over her ass.  _God she has a nice ass._

I was mid-squeeze when I heard our door fly open. We both pulled away from each other and whipped around at the sound of a yell coming from behind us.

"My eyes! Oh God I think I'm blind!"

It was my dad, who was now hunched over the kitchen counter and covering his eyes.

Carmilla and I both let out breaths. She relaxed back down onto my lap and I laughed, bringing my head down to rest against her shoulder.

"Hi Dad." "Hi Frank."

"Can I look now?" His hands were still covering his eyes.

Carm rolled off and next to me on the couch as I fixed my clothes.

"All set."

He sighed and took down his hands, walking over to the couch. 

"I don't think enough soap can scrub that sight from my eyes."

"Daaaaddd," I dragged out.

"Laura you're my baby girl. It's weird to see you being gross with someone, even if it is my other favorite girl."

Carmilla chuckled.

"So this is finally a thing now?" He gestured to the closeness of Carmilla and I.

"Yeah it's a thing," Carmilla said as she threaded our hands together and kissed the back of mine.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy you two finally got your heads out of your asses and got together, but I'm a little mad that it happened now. Now I owe Kirsch 20 bucks."

"Why does everyone keep betting on us?" Carmilla and I gave each other a look.

"We've been betting on you guys getting together for years, honey."

I glared at him but he brushed me off.

"Well I just came over here to hang out with my girls but I'm gonna leave you two to do some 'catching up'."

I'm hoping he meant just spending time together but I never know with him.

He got up off the couch and yelled a goodbye, shutting the door behind him.

"We've really got to start locking our doors."

She laughed, I smiled, and everything felt okay. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are so amazing and sweet…thank you for sticking with this story!
> 
> living-in-water.tumblr.com


	9. Handsy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can't keep my hands to myself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second to last chapter…enjoy! It took me awhile to get this out, sorry guys. And I'm sorry for how crappy this chapter is. Thanks to everyone that's read and commented and loved this story, you guys are amazing and I'm so grateful!

"Well, where were we cutie?" Carmilla said as she slid back onto my lap.

She started kissing my neck and threading her fingers through my hair again.

As much as I would like to get lost in Carmilla again, there were still some aspects of our relationship that I wanted to talk about. I know, I know, we just talked, and as someone that does it all the time even I think it's excessive, but still. I needed a solid answer from Carmilla as to at what stage in our relationship we are at the time. 

"Hey Carm?" It came out lower than usual but Carmilla was doing wonders with her lips.

"What's up buttercup?" She whispered against my skin. I felt the goosebumps raise with every syllabus out of her mouth.

"Where do you consider us to be?" 

"We're on the couch cupcake." She pulled back and looked down at me as she said so, eyebrow raised and everything.

"No I'm being serious babe." 

"I think I seriously like it when you call me babe." 

She leaned down to give me a kiss.

"But to actually answer your question, I don't know. I honestly don't," she shrugged. "This isn't a normal thing and I think that's okay. Whatever happens going forward is what happens. It can't be forced and it can't be outlined, we have to go through the milestones of a relationship our own way."

She twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "My Laura," she said as she cupped my face in her hands. "Can we just pretend, just for tonight, that it's just us? That the labels don't matter and we do what feels right? All I know is that being with you feels right, Bear."

My heart was soaring from her words. Carmilla felt right with  _me_. Carmilla wants to be with  _me._ I know she said this stuff before but after shutting my feelings for Carmilla away for so long I can't help but gush when she says them again. 

I placed my hands over the ones still grasping my cheeks.

"Of course, anything for you." And I meant it too, because my relationship with Carmilla runs deep. Like bottom of the ocean deep. 

She gave me a soft kiss but I needed more. I needed more of her lips, more of her tongue, more of her.

I gasped when she bit down on my lower lip and tugged, instantly bringing my mind to the dirtiest place.

It felt like my body was burning, all of my senses were locked onto Carmilla.

"Tell me when it gets to be too much," she whispered against my lips. 

I was panting, every intake of breath causing my chest to brush against her. It was almost embarrassing how turned on I was already just from the merest graze of her body.

_Pull it together Hollis._

I felt her slightly pushing me backwards into a lying position so I dragged her down on top of me, settling one hand on her lower back and one found it's way into her hair.

Her lips moved from mine to my neck, each touch of her lips as soft as the last. I was whimpering from her touches, she was melting me down to a beautiful mess.

I started running my hands over her body.  _If she was going to turn me into a mess than I was going to do what I could to make her feel good too._

I began at the hem of her shirt, inching my way underneath the fabric to touch her skin. She was soft and warm but I felt her falter against my neck as I touched her. I smirked.

She shifted slightly, one hand bringing my lips back onto hers, the other onto the back of the couch to hold herself up. I felt one thigh slide in between mine. 

"Ffffuuucckk, Carm," I breathed out as she leaned back down towards me. Her leg pushed against my core and my hands shot to her hips to hold her against me.

"Cupcake, bed. Now."

In one motion I sat up, scooped her into my arms, and made my way into Carmilla's bedroom. Her room may be messy but her sheets were more comfortable than mine.

"When the hell did you get so strong sweetheart?" I plopped her down onto her back and made my way on top.

"I do yoga almost everyday." I kissed her lips, enjoying the way she was touching the muscles in my arms.

"That's hot."

"You're hot." The words left my mouth without me realizing it until I heard her laughing, actually laughing. It made me stop and laugh too.

This time with Carmilla was different from the other times I've slept with girls. What was happening was not lustful-not hurried or needy, but it was loving. It was an action between two people who shared a bond almost unbreakable. We could laugh and joke without it being weird. Every touch had purpose, every kiss making me fall harder and harder, every sound coming from her pushing me to make her feel good. 

* * *

 "Caaarrrrmmm get off my arm is asleep."

At some point in the night she had rolled over and she was spooning me. I usually enjoy being the small spoon but somehow my arm got stuck underneath me and I could feel pins and needles.

She huffed and pulled me closer into her chest.

"Baby I'm serious you gotta let me go or I'm slapping you with this dead arm."

"Hurtful," she mumbled.

"Truthful," I responded back.

She let go and I rolled out of bed so I could shake out my arms. It took a second but the feeling finally returned in my left arm. I climbed back in next to her while grabbing my phone and checking the notifications.

There was one from my dad and one from my grandmother.

**Dad: Make sure you two look nice tonight pumpkin, I'll be there to pick you guys up at 6 for dinner. And as gross as this is gonna sound coming from your father, maybe up the PDA tonight. They're gonna eat that stuff up.**

I winced. It was gross to have your father tell you to be all over your girlfriend at dinner. 

**Grandma: Hello love, I just wanted to remind you that dinner is tonight! I can't wait to meet your little girlfriend! Love you! XX Grandma**

I chuckled at the message. Ever since we taught her to text she signs her messages so that we know "it's from your grandmother". 

"Sweetheart it's much too early to be looking at a screen that bright, come back to sleep." Carmilla said as she shifted her head away from the light.

I looked at the time on my phone and saw that it was almost 1 in the afternoon. I nudged her with my hand lightly.

"It's already the afternoon,  _sweetheart_ , I think it's time for us to get up."

"What time do we have to be ready by for tonight?" she mumbled into the pillow.

"6."

"And what time is it now?"

"About 1."

"Then we've got plenty of time cupcake," she said as she pulled me into her with her right arm. I put the phone down next to me and softened into her embrace, enjoying the gentle puffs of breath that reached my shoulder from her nose.

We should get up and get some food but laying here with Carm is too comfortable. There was no way I was going back to sleep but it didn't matter. The sounds she makes when I run my fingers through her hair take precedent over hunger any day.

* * *

 "Laura if you don't stop we're not going to make it out of this room," she mumbled against my lips.

It's not my fault really, because she's the one wearing her leather pants and looking damn good in them.

I gave up when she turned her head back to the mirror to finish putting on her make-up. With a swift kiss to her exposed collar bone I was out of the bathroom and into the bedroom to change into my own clothes.

I could feel my nerves raise to the surface as each minute went by. It's one thing to introduce your girlfriend to you overbearing family but it's an even scarier thing to introduce your best friend-turned-fake-lover-turned-actual-girlfriend to them. I mean I don't have to tell as much of a lie now, the timeline of our relationship is just pushed back by a year, but I guess I'm worried about what Carmilla will think of them as well. She's incredible, any sane person could see that, yet I want her to fit in with the rest of them.

Because I plan on being with Carmilla for a long time.

It might sound crazy to say that in a relationship that's younger than my nephew is, but the way my heart beats around her and the way she makes me feel like the most beautiful woman in the room is more than enough proof that she's it for me. Even if it doesn't work out in the end, I will never love another person the way that I love Carmilla.

_I'm completely and totally in love with my best friend._

"Cupcake come on! Frank's here!" 

My daydreaming did nothing to slow down my routine for getting ready -that's what happens with years of practice. I grabbed my cardigan to slip on over my baby blue shirt and opened the bedroom door to meet my girlfriend and my father out in the kitchen.

My dad was sat down at the table and Carmilla leaned back against the counter.

"Hello sweetheart," they both said at the same time. After an eyebrow raise and quick stare at each other Carmilla dropped her gaze to the floor with a snort and my dad looked at me.

"I don't think I could've prepared myself for this. As glad as I am that you too finally got your shit together after all these years it's weird to hear you called anything but Carmilla's 'cupcake' nickname for you. Let's just set some ground rules. For both of you."

He motioned for me to sit across from him.

"First things first, I'm the one that gets to call Laura 'sweetheart'. Don't give me that look Milla, I'm asking for one name. She is my only child you know." He gave Carmilla a pointed look.

"Yes sir." Carmilla saluted back.

My dad rolls his eyes. "And I'm going to start texting you when I am within five minutes of your building so that I don't have to walk in on you two…you know….ever again." He shuddered. "And let's keep it PG-13 today, Henry will be there and I don't think that his aunt needs to scar him for life because her and her girlfriend can't keep their hands to themselves for two seconds."

I giggled.  _Yeah I might have a problem with not touching her as much as possible._

Carmilla pulled her red flannel closer to her body as she stood up straighter. "I plan on being a perfect gentlewoman. You might want to reiterate that to handsy over there."

"Hey! I am not handsy." I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Ewwwww I don't want to hear about it. What you two do without me here is your business but I prefer not to be informed of what goes on between my girls."

I sat back in my chair defeated.  _Okay so maybe I was a_ little _handsy…you would be too if Carmilla was your girlfriend. Sometimes it's like she's photoshopped that girl looks so good._

Carmilla wore a winning smirk on her stupid beautiful lips.

"Let's go to the battle." He said as he got up and walked to the door.

"Battle?" Carmilla asked.

"Sometimes talking to them is the equivalent of fighting a war: you're constantly in the defense when being ambushed by people who have an idea of what they're doing but will fight to the end for you to agree with their opinions. In the end there's no real winner and you're just exhausted."

She gave me a look and I just shrugged. Dad kind of hit it on the head.

"Get ready babe."

"You so owe me for this."

"It was going to happen eventually." I leaned closer to her ear so only she could hear. "Plus I have all kinds of things I want to do to you later."

"Laura I can hear you," my dad said as we got into the car.

"Sorry."

"You know, even though you're an adult now sometimes you sound just like a horny teenage boy," he said as he started the car and we began our way to my grandmother's house.

"What Frank is saying is that you're gross Laura," Carmilla said from the back seat.

"Damn right," my dad said as he fist bumped her. 

I huffed in the passenger seat. It's gonna be a long life of them teaming up against me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! Again, sorry for the shit that is this chapter. 
> 
> Come check me out on tumblr living-in-water.tumblr.com


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